Recursive Sarcasm

Students often ask me "Do you tell the same stories/jokes to all your classes?"  Not only do I not always tell the same ones (although some classes get the same story inflicted upon them several times if it is on my mind a lot that particular year), but sometimes I will go years without telling a particular story until I am reminded of it.

Here's a classic Riddicism that was in heavy rotation during the early years, but not sure if I have even told it to recent classes:

The many levels of sarcasm:

regular sarcarsm: you mean the opposite of what you say

double sarcasm: you actually mean what you say with an implied opposite meaning being acknowledged

triple sarcasm: you mean the opposite of what you say but you are aware that the listener would hope for the double

the elusive quadruple:  you mean it but with all those layers above implicit in the profound understanding of the history you have with the listener

The quadruple is tough unless you already have a history with the listener, here's an example I made up to elucidate all the layers:

I wear my Boba Fett T-shirt to a family event and my brother says "Wow - nice shirt."

Simple sarcasm:  He thinks the shirt is inappropriate for the event

Double sarcasm:  He sounds sarcastic but he actually thinks I'm pulling it off!

Triple sarcasm:  He knows that I think some people will find it inappropriate but he also knows that I secretly think i'm pulling it off, but he's telling me "nope - you are not as cool as you think you are"

Quadruple sarcasm:  All of the triple is hanging there in the air between us, but he is surprised himself by the fact, in the end, everyone is digging how cool I am in my Boba Fett T-shirt!


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This entry inspired by the fact that I recently came across an old photo of a former student (MG) who is now in the education business herself.  She has reached out sporadically through the years much to my pleasure.  One of the most recent emails (2017) was a request to give examples of my old many-layers-of-sarcasm bit.  I searched the blog and found no entry on it, so here it is!