I’ve always been a rather sarcastic person, and have an enormous appreciation for the true art form that it is.  It’s gotten me into trouble in the past, but as much of a cliché as it may be, time and love have softened me.  I used to be quite the biting and bitter single girl, but that’s a story for another time. 

However, I do still enjoy the occasional sarcastic remark, and Paul and Douglas Sak may have the solution to those pesky misunderstanding that can sometimes result.  The SarcMark, which sort of looks like an upside-down “@” symbol with a period in the middle of it instead of the “a”, is available to download here.  It is marketed as “the official, easy-to-use punctuation mark to emphasize a sarcastic phrase, sentence, or message.”  The website even includes a FAQs section that claims that even someone who doesn’t like sarcasm should use the SarcMark because, as supported by the Merriam Webster Dictionary’s definition of sarcasm, using it makes you intelligent.  And no, there was no SarcMark at the end of that sentence. 

There are so many things wrong with this new form of “punctuation”, the least of these being the fact that the developers themselves seem to lack a true understanding of the purpose of sarcasm.  As Geoffrey Nunberg, a professor of linguistics at University of California at Berkeley states,  “the point of sarcasm is that it speaks with two voices.  To the non-initiate, it’s literal, and the initiate hears it as sarcastic, and the whole point is not to tip that balance.”  (To read the entire article, click here.) 

What it comes down to in the end is knowing your audience.  Some people get sarcasm, some people don’t.  And never will.  But I don’t think a new punctuation mark is the answer.  Most of the time, you know who will get what you’re trying to say, and if you’re not sure, or you don’t know the person very well and it’s an important conversation or e-mail, just don’t do it.  If, on the other hand, the consequences of a potential misunderstanding aren’t employment or friendship-ending, go ahead.  Be sarcastic.  It makes you sound intelligent, don’t you know?