Sarcasm punctuation mark aims to put an end to email confusion

[Captain Kremmen]

I would never say "Acid Rock is his Forte" of a great musician.

Either a person is very good at Acid Rock or they aren't.
To say "Acid Rock is his Forte", would be a limited compliment, and as such would imply a lack of exceptional talent

Forte is usually used as part of a personal boast, same as Passion.
e.g. "Cooking is my Forte" "Cooking is my Passion"
Come to think of it, Forte is probably said half joking, unlike the more recent Passion which is meant to impress.
Is "It's my Passion" in common use in the US as well as the UK?


(If someone is a good cook, they should just cook food and let the rest of us decide how good he/she is. And Keep passion for the bedroom)

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

I would never say "Acid Rock is his Forte" of a great musician.

I have often said, "Shakira's forte is erudite ballads in Spanish and Arabic. It's a shame that the Hollywood machine is wasting her talent on throwaway ditties in English."

 

[dazzlepecs]

there already is a punctuation mark to denote sarcasm, an 18th century book had hundreds of these obsolete symbols.. It was an upside down question mark called a "snark" i think. Also an exclamation mark sided with a question mark as in "!?" is called an intermezzo

 

[Try Again]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...rk-aims-to-put-an-end-to-email-confusion.html

I'm sure some of you have already seen this. Apart from the fact that there are already a few symbols that people typically use to convey sarcasm, such as ;-), I think this is a terrible idea, and I'll tell you why.

First of all, part of the fun of sarcasm is when, in any given situation, only about half of the people involved suspect that you're actually being sarcastic. I'm talking about that more evolved, more subtle form of sarcasm that's only recognized by more discerning people, or by people who know you really well. If we were to adopt a standard symbol, and use it every time we were being sarcastic, all of that would be lost.

One might quickly conclude that this isn't necessarily a problem because you could just choose not to use the symbol. But if it became as common as say, the exclamation mark, not using it might lead some readers to feel more certain that you are definitely not being sarcastic. This could potentially lead to more misunderstandings, rather than less.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm going to be very upset if my ability to effectively shit stir someone on a forum, without annoying the hopefully more intelligent moderators, is compromised!

Isn't it optional to use them?