The French have vaguely introduced an irony mark into their glyphs and there is a dormant sarcasm mark in the Ethiopian language. Both marks are simply a backwards question mark.

There is a need for a mark to clear up irony and derisive irony in the English language. As instant messaging, text messaging, and emailing have emerged as powerful forms of communication, we also see new forms of miscommunication. There is no easy way make the backwards question mark on a QWERTY keyboard, and virtually no way on most, if not all, cell phone keypads. Some use < sarcasm > at the end of a sentence, others use a rolling-eye emoticon, and the most reasonable to date is an exclamation mark inside brackets [!]. However, writing out the word sarcasm or even adding brackets to an exclamation mark seem extraneous within the flow of natural communication.

I propose we make the pound sign (or number sign) (#) [shift + 3] the representation for sarcasm and ironical bantering. It’s on every keyboard, it’s an easy key command, it’s next to $ and not far from ! and won’t cause confusion as long as it is used to mark the end of a sentence. We don’t use the # sign after words or sentences, except to represent lbs in a recipe, and that is rare.

In the beginning it might seem a little superfluous, especially when used improperly. It’ll be like one of your friends getting braces, it’s weird at first but the awkwardness soon becomes normal.

If you’ve experienced the pain of trying to explain to someone that you weren’t being sincere in a textual dialogue but you in fact mean the complete opposite. If you ever want to respond to someone quickly and without further interrogation but you find yourself reluctant to throw out the ironic reply. Spread the word of the #.

Pledge your official support at [shift+3] saves lives

Sarcasm

by: Scott Starrett

If you live in an urban environment you simply cannot escape it, and if you spend your time in the wilderness it’s not uncommon. Semiosis is what the modern human exists by. It’s how we find our food, how we perform our jobs, it is our entertainment and the backbone of finding our way from one place to the next.

A sign is an indication, or representation, of a thought. All humans rely on signs for every form of communication: from speech to writing, sign language to smoke signals (the first form of telegraph).

American logician, mathematician, philosopher, and scientist Charles Sanders Peirce defines Semiosis as follows:

“An action, or influence, which is, or involves, a cooperation of three subjects, such as a sign, its object, and its interpretant.”

If you live in an urban environment you abide by and adhere to the signs that create civilization, law, and order. In the wilderness humans tend to find stories in patterns of the stars and characters in the clouds. We search endlessly for recognizable patterns so we can utilize the meaning of objects and actions. Street signs, for example: if numbered streets run east to west and the numbers increase as you move south you can now orient yourself with your cardinal directions and get from one place to another on a grid. A street sign is made up of both a set of recognizable characters (letters) and a set of coded cultural symbols (we know green signs with white letters indicate guide messages). Without this set of coding it would be an extremely difficult task to find a location for the first time.

Assigning objects and actions meaning is part of what separates humans from other species. Our ability to preconceive the potential outcome of an event is the reason we dwell in houses during thunderstorms and have as much food in the winter as in the summer. These things are our very being and yet Semiotics is a relatively seldom mentioned study.

We are in an age of awareness, where consumers are constantly demanding to know more about the products they purchase. This discretion should be applied to the information we take in as well. Thinking about and knowing how you respond to your surroundings should be as vital a lesson as grammar.

For further reading: Saussure and C.S. Peirce: