Sarcasm is hard to convey in emails and instant messaging, and many a relationship has gone awry due to an overly literal reading of a snarky electronic communication. Michigan-based Sarcasm Inc. (seriously) has proposed a solution: the SarcMark — an @-like symbol that goes at the end of sarcastic comments to indicate the writer's intent. Is the new punction mark — which can be downloaded at Sarcasm Inc's website for $2 — a good way to prevent misunderstandings, or does it just ruin the joke? (Watch a report about the SarcMark)
If you need the SarcMark, avoid sarcasm: This "supposedly hip new punctuation" is just a "crutch" for people who have no business using sarcasm, says Andrew Lidwell in the San Bruno, Calif., Skyline View, and "I hate it." Sarcasm is subtle, "a reward for the intelligent," so if you have to resort to the decidedly un-subtle SarcMark, you're probably one of the witless, "lazy idiots" who belong "on the receiving end of sarcasm."
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