Saturday, January 16

The SarcMark

A US company called Sarcasm, Inc is promoting a new punctuation mark to denote sarcasm -- the SarcMark. It would be used at the end of a sentence or phrase in a way similar to an exclamation or question mark.

I'm all for promoting clarity in communication but I'm also trying to eliminate sarcasm from my own communication. Irony and tongue-in-cheek can stay but I'd like to be less sarcastic. Sarcasm never seems to bring out the best in others and it doesn't convey grace very well. Often it is ugly and destructive. So, I'm better off without it.

If I write well I probably don't need punctuation to convey irony or tongue-in-cheek wit. The emergence of this symbol, though, does raise the issue of whether new punctuation which more clearly reflects tone of voice should be introduced into English.
  • SarcMark -- the official site (SarcMark software is $1.99)

1 comment:

Dan said...

In one theology board I used to frequent, we developed the little phrase "rhos" to denote sarcasm. Our way of offering the "right hand of sarcasm."