Electronic Emotions: The Sarcasm Button
Nowadays, email exchange is a dominant form of both personal and business communication. In fact, it’s so commonplace that now there is a special feature that helps avoid one of it’s biggest blunders: the misinterpretation of words.
The SarcMark, as its been formally introduced, is a new punctuation mark that represents sarcasm. Below is the minute-long advertisement (direct link):
As The Methodology Blog has recently covered, words matter. Likewise, we must also emphasize that context of words are just as important. Besides certain abbreviations such as LOL and j/k, we have only known the email that lacks the ability to show emotion. The results: a varying amount of misinterpretations that may offend, discourage, challenge or simply create reverse or unintentional reactions. And though the SarcMark aims to prevent this, it does not guarantee it. So, users beware!
The truth is, regardless of abbreviations or symbols, being cognizant of both language and altering points of view in an email is important when seeking proper, positive communication; particularly in the workplace. Contact Slaughter Development today to learn more about empowering stakeholders through effective and efficient communication that doesn’t depend on nonverbal cues for translation.
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January 18th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
I think it’s an interesting concept, but how will people know what it is when you use it unless it becomes as universal as the exclamation point or question mark? I try not to put sarcasm in emails because it’s 90% likely to not be picked up on and yes, someone will get offended.
Could it be the new thing among those that are Internet savvy? Maybe. Will I use it? Not at all.
January 18th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Thanks for the comment, Sara.
I don’t think the Sarcmark will catch on, but the larger point is that communication is difficult and it’s easy to be misunderstood. Check out our recent post which shows how a threatening email can be rewritten into one that is more effective and empowering.
January 19th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Emails are hard, man. Sometimes I have to sit, breathe, and let myself chill out before I send a nasty email to a nasty consumer. It’s just like talking to someone.