erniefreeman's Blog

A recent New York Times article has delivered me from that perplexing period, usually a few confused seconds, when I deliver what I think is a funny one liner, a stinger of a zinger, only to have someone say, "you're mean."  Mean?  That was sarcasm.  It was a funny, a joke.  Not mean.  Not meant to be mean.  Not mean.  Here's the big relief for me; The Times article says there is a portion of the brain that gives people the ability to perceive sarcasm.  And apparently, not everybody has it.  Who knew?  Not me.  So the next time I refer to the slim ball who put his baby in the microwave and actully turned it on as a "father of the year candidate" I'm actually going to have to appreciate that some folks actually think that I think the guy is a father of the year candidate. 

Not to bore you with the medical details of the study the Times article was based on, but it basically identifies the right parahippocampal gyrus as an area of the brain must be involved in detecting sarcasm.  This is significant because, apparently, the left side of the brain processes language.   

So the next time I drop an S bomb and someone says, "you're mean,"  would I be wrong if I said, "you need to have your head examined."