Re: OT: Negation as the indicative standard

E fésto Philippe Caquant <herodote92@...>:
> Well, that's what my dictionnary says, and I agree to
> it... You can also find definitions using the words
> "cruel", "mocking", etc. If that is not offensive, I
> don't know what it is...
Mocking isnt the same as offensive.  Sarcasm can be used without giving
any offense at all, merely expressing the speaker's contempt or pointing
out something stupid someone just said:

     << ...I see this guy Marty tryin ta carry a big old sofa
        up the stairs all by himself.  So I say to him, I say,
        "Hey, you want me to help you with that?"
           And Marty, he just rolls his eyes and goes "\No, I
        want you to cut off my arms and legs with a chainsaw.\" >>

> Maybe you mean that English sarcasm is not the same as
> French sarcasme ?
I remember being prescribed to say that "sarcasm" wasn't irony, and you
should call it "irony" if you were being ironic at all.  But I think that
was a losing battle...  I dont know if the word 'sarcasm' has evolved in
parallel in the French as it has in the English.

Cf. "sarcasm" from Webster 1913:

     << A keen, reproachful expression; a satirical remark
        uttered with some degree of scorn or contempt; a taunt;
        a gibe; a cutting jest. >>

And then the one from the AHD4 (2000):

     << 1. A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound.
        2. A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic
        language and is intended to make its victim the butt of
        contempt or ridicule. >>


        *Muke!
    ("A sarcasm detector.  We \really\ need one of \those\.")
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