What is a good substitute for sarcasm?

Question

I have always been excellent at sarcasm because it shows what a clever & witty person I am who is quick to see the hypocrisy in life.
Recently though, I have become disillusioned with it, because it is not productive, and I think it drives people away, especially women.

Answer 1

Try just plain ol' wit, minus the sarcasm.

Answer 2

Irony.

First, let's look at your problem. Sarcasm and hypocrisy seldom go hand in hand. Hypocrisy means 1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess; 2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude. You must be hanging out with a lot of religious officials and politicians if you're seeing so much hypocrisy in your world. Where are you seeing all this hypocrisy that you're mentioning to women?

Now just to be sure we're on the right page, sarcasm means 1. harsh or bitter derision or irony; 2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark. Note, irony is a part of sarcasm, but sarcasm has all those nasty barbed words like harsh, bitter, and taunt.

Since irony is a key compenent let's look at it in more detail. Irony can mean the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. Meeting an incredible rude person and turning to your friend to say "My, what a nice gentleman he was." Irony can also mean an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected. Upon being served pork chops after ordering the Kosher meal you might say "I'm sorry, but I ordered the Kosher Pork."

See, irony and pointing out the ironies in life is funny. It's hilarious. It's what comedians get paid millions to do. It's what gets movies like Scary Movie 1-60 to make millions. And believe me, next to a really big wallet, it's what women like more than anything.

Now, since you're a self-avowed clever and witty person you should have no problem recognizing the irony in your previously sarcastic statements and removing the harshness, bitterness and taunting nature of your comments. What will be left is a mixture palatable to all those around you and much more likely to losen the thigh muscles of the women around you.

Answer 3

well sarcasm has different facets. perhaps degrading sarcasm can be weaned out of your vocabulary, but witty and uplifting sarcasm can stay around? i'm a very sarcastic person, and truthfully, it's gained me many friends... but it can also be potentially hurtful. the way i look at is this... you can be sarcastic, but you have to be laidback and receptive for other people to retaliate or play into the conversation with you instead of against you. for instance... if you say something sarcastic and someone takes it as offensive, try explaining the logic behind the sarcasm. this robs the sarcasm of some of it's power, but after you've explained yourself a few times, the people start getting your humor. it also helps a lot to really break through to the people and have a real conversation devoid of sarcasm every once in awhile to keep it fresh. i used to be the "oh here comes justin. great." kid early on in high school but then i learned to harness the sarcasm into a powerful tool to gain friends and get people to understand me... it quickly became a "oh here comes justin! great!" in a way where you'd want to hear it. so sit your friends down and just chat with them sometimes about things that have meaning to everyone and are concrete. then when you've got people behind you and they understand you better, your sarcasm becomes charming instead of repititious and bitter.

it can be as simple as changing a sentence instead of your mind set... for instance... "let's go build a house" one of your friends says. instead of saying what you're thinking "ya... like that will ever work." which is simply demeaning and discouraging, try something like "you know... that could work! we may need to hire a fleet of flying monkeys to help us, swing by the store and get 14 tubes of toothpaste, a dishwasher, 738 purple lightbulbs and a german engineer (surprisingly easy to find at target... they're in the "home goods" section)... but we could do it." that way it's got a story to it, it's funny, but it's also open to the idea more or less.

Answer 4

Either use jokes, or when I'm overly sarcastic, I try to have a huge smile on my face so it will be obvious that I'm being sarcastic. Sarcasm relies on people being somewhat gullible to get the joke, and people (especially women) don't like to feel gullible all the time. But if you make it clear through your expressions that you're being sarcastic or facetious, you'll be ok.

Answer 5

I don't understand how any humor is meant to be productive, but in terms of alienating people with your masterful wit, it probably has less to do with them disliking clever humor, so much as it is that sarcasm is best used in humorous situations and not as a usual way to relate with people.

As a more dryly humorous person myself, in my own experience, it is appreciated as a break from more ostentatious and silly displays (it's nice to think before "getting it"), but is resented when directed toward the present company, in which case they might see it as a weapon rather than humor.

Best of luck

Answer 6

Sardonic, sarcasms more sophisticated brother. In any good dictionary, you will see the sardonic wit is subtly different than sarcasm, at least in their primary meaning.

Answer 7

Compassion and forgiveness!

You are not perfect. So why expect "the others" to be perfect. Give them some allowance - as you probably hope the same from others.

Answer 8

It's sarcastic to use sarcasm.
Toilet says to say the first thing on your mind when you communicate with others.
Toilet also recommends decaffeinated coffee with high-fibre bagels.
wang?

Answer 9

Me too..I do the same thing....how...Kill em with kindness.. You can keep a hidden attiude but still be nice to others.

Answer 10

Try smiling once in awhile.