I May Be Easy, But My Anatomy Is ComplexMarch 3
I’m talking about sarcasm.
Sarcasm is considered the lowest form of humor, mainly because 12-year-olds can do it but also because it’s such a crashing bore. Sarcasm is the Two Buck Chuck of comedy, the Kraft single of wit. It’s masturbation instead of making love. It’s irony without the effort.
Interesting, then, that the ubiquitous and simplistic habit of sarcasm at which I excel is one of the most complex forms of communication and a persistent stumbling block to any earnest foreign exchange student. That’s right: those scientists have been at it again, only instead of patrolling remote islands looking for fossilized flippers, they’re begun exploring the whole “theory of mind” thing as it pertains to sarcasm. You know the drill: you recognize that you have thoughts and I have thoughts and they just might be different, and through complex cognitive processes we are able to place each other’s expressed thoughts in their correct contexts. In other words, we have the ability – well, we normal people, anyway – to estimate each other’s intention. We can read between the lines of the lips.
Unless, of course, you have a degree in Sociology. Or, you’re me and you take everything literally. This is a problem that many friends have pointed out over the years (all right, finnnnnally, I have problems!). Scoring off the charts on an internet Asperger’s test did nothing to diffuse my suspicion that I have a contextual comprehension disability, and let’s not even get started on the ramifications for my OCD.
“The findings fit what we already know about brain anatomy. The prefrontal cortex is involved in pragmatic language processes and complex social cognition, thus it followed that participants with prefrontal damage had faulty ‘sarcasm meters.’ ”
If you’re too lazy to read the whole thing, what this all boils down to is that if you’re retarded you won’t get the joke. Fortunately, this doesn’t matter, because the joke is retarded too. It’s just like homeopathy!
In sum, class: what have we learned today? Stupid people are immune to stupid humor. Opposites attract, if you will. So, if you find yourself enjoying sarcasm, you are in fact brilliant. And that’s science!
Image: Abraxas3d
3 Mar 2008 | 3:28 pm | Juvenile, My Research Is Damning, Open Monday Through Friday, Scientists | 2 comments
