Anyway, some bright Web 2.0 sparks have decided that we have collectively failed as far as reading goes. Because none of us are capable of detecting nuance, tone or mood from the written word, they've invented a special symbol, or massive flashing signpost, to indicate sarcasm - the SarcMark
It's obviously what I've been waiting for. It abolished all that pesky ambiguity that we've wasted our time with. If only Jane Austen had known about this, I wouldn't have whiled away summer afternoons explaining to my students that when she wrote 'it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife' (Pride and Prejudice from memory, ladiesngennelmen), she was being sarcastic or perhaps ironic, or even playful, but probably not overly serious anyway.
Clearly the new version would run something like this:
Rich blokes want birds, innit!!LOL!!!
I know that sometimes you, dear reader, fail to appreciate my humour, but that's because you're stupid I'm not very funny. There hasn't been a sudden failure of print or readers. Words on screen don't suddenly lose power because of where they are. So all in all, well done, SarcMark designers. What a brilliant idea. You guys are brilliant and your idea will be on every keyboard within a year.
