Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Language is a slippery vehicle...
there is no font called sarcasm. you have to be able to tell when the writer is being literal or not. it is also hard for the writer to really portray what they mean, because it can mean something in their head and then the reader translates it completely different. also knowing your audience shapes the style one writes. some type of language may be appropriate for one piece, like a poem or anything creative, while other words are more scientific and used for stating facts. but i still think the most dangerous part of language is whether or not the other person will understand what you mean. it is easy to go off on a tangent. and if you dig yourself too deep, no one will know that you mean.
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I feel that the "there is no font called sarcasm" line sums everything up. As readers we hve to truly pay attention to the writer's audience and meaning. In high school my teacher took extra time to show us examples of pieces where the author is being sarcastic. Words can be twisted in a way where if the reader isn't careful they can completely misunderstand the proper meaning.
ReplyDeleteI have used email in the past as an example to my children, that you must be careful how you write something because it can be mistaken so easily when you don't see the expression in the speakers face or see the sarcasm it in. My dad has a facebook page and his status sometimes can look really bad, but if you know the person he is and how sarcastic he is, you would get it. I too agree with Matthew and believe that line does sum up the whole topic.
ReplyDelete"there is no font called sarcasm." I love this line I think it completely makes the entire post. All of your facts make prefect sense too but this just sums up everything. I think that is one of the hardest thing for me when I write, how everything will be taken. When I write I have a certain tone that I think my language should be taken in but it very rarely comes across in the manner that I would like when I write. It is so easy for things to be misread that we often must be careful with what we write.
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