Who said sarcasm is the lowest form of humor

Like Wilde however, the researchers from Harvard Business School have called sarcasm the "highest form of intelligence" in a new paper. Sarcasm increases creativity for both expressers and recipients as we do mental gymnastics to understand the irony, they add. To come to these conclusions the researchers conducted a series of tests, including imagining a cartoon with the caption, "I am sorry I splashed you, I tried to miss the puddle", was sarcastic, sincere or neutral.

They were also asked to imagine conversations or recall real chats that had been sarcastic, sincere or neutral. They were then asked to perform cognitive tasks. Sarcasm involves constructing or exposing contradictions between intended meanings. The most common form of verbal irony, sarcasm is often used to humorously convey thinly veiled disapproval or scorn.

Early research on sarcasm explored how people interpret statements and found that, as expected, sarcasm makes a statement sound more critical. Participants rated sarcasm to be more condemning than literal statements. Both perspectives prompted participants to rate sarcastic comments by the second person as more impolite relative to literal comments. Other research has show that sarcasm can be easily misinterpreted, particularly when communicated electronically. In one study , 30 pairs of university students were given a list of statements to communicate, half of which were sarcastic and half of which were serious.

Some students communicated their messages via e-mail and others via voice recordings. Participants who received the voice messages accurately gleaned the sarcasm or lack thereof 73 percent of the time, but those who received the statements via e-mail did so only 56 percent of the time, hardly better than chance. By comparison, the e-mailers had anticipated that 78 percent of participants would pick up on the sarcasm inherent in their sarcastic statements.

That is, they badly overestimated their ability to communicate the tenor of their sarcastic statements via e-mail. They guessed they would correctly interpret the tone of the e-mails they received about 90 percent of the time. They were considerably less overconfident about their ability to interpret voice messages. In recent research, my colleagues and I discovered an upside to this otherwise gloomy picture of sarcasm.

In one study, we assigned some participants to engage in either simulated sarcastic, sincere, or neutral dialogues by choosing from pre-written responses on a sheet of paper.

Grahame Wilson, Lane Cove. The only thing thing that keeps satellites in orbit is the high orbital speed which counters the pull of earth's gravity. In the shuttle example, the orbit speed is around 30, kmh.

If it travelled slower, it would inexorably spiral back to earth and burn up in the upper atmosphere. Any faster and it might achieve escape velocity and soar off into outer space.

In the shuttle case, the re-entry is planned around a critical re-entry angle. The reason why re-entry occurs at such high re-entry speed, around 22, kmh, is that to slow the shuttle down any further would require a lengthy rocket burn to shed speed. During the launch, the main thrust comes from the Solid Rocket Boosters SRBs , in combination with the shuttle's liquid rocket engines which are primarily fuelled by that massive rust-colored external fuel tank. Both the SRBs and the external fuel tank are depleted and jettisoned before the shuttle reaches orbit.

Using either to slow the shuttle down further is simply not an option. Instead of burning scarce fuel, the shuttle sheds speed by utilizing the friction of the upper atmosphere to create drag. This method requires only enough fuel to slow the craft down from 30, kmh to 22, kmh but it does generate the extraordinary skin temperatures experienced by the thermal protective tiles.

In theory, the system works extremely well and heat shields, of various types, have been the basis of all US spacecraft re-entries over four decades. Like most technologies, it is not perfect however. The principle of using protective tiles dates back centuries to an era where we lined smelting furnaces with refractory bricks to stop the escape of temperatures likewise around celsius.

Allan MacGregor, Lilyfield. It is necessary to slow the space shuttle from its orbital velocity of, typically, 28, kmh to speeds say from kmh down to kmh where ordinary aircraft control surfaces may be employed to position and control the shuttle in a safe landing on the Earth. The only practical way of doing this is to use the friction of the Earth's atmosphere to slow down the shuttle. This generates an enormous amount of heat, and the difficult problem of protecting the crew, and shuttle, from incineration.

Frank Jackson, Watsons Bay. What is the origin of the military salute and why is the navy one different to the air force one? The naval salute started in the mids as a replacement for officers doffing their caps and other ranks tugging their forelocks upon meeting a superior.

The navy salute is less florid than the Army and RAAF salute due to the presence of rigging aboard ships and the lack of open space. We were always taught that the right arm was taken straight up, the hand placed at a degree angle above the brow and held for three seconds then snapped down smartly. Wayne Steel, Quakers Hill. The Air Force salute is made by holding the right hand up to the forehead with the palm of the hand pointing down. The Navy salute is made by holding the right hand up to the forehead with all four fingers touching the forehead.

This was created to show the Superior officer that the Navy official who was saluting did not have a weapon in his hand. Most Navy officers aren't required to carry a weapon and that is why this salute is different for Navy officials. Fabian Vassallo, Rhodes. There are two theories; one says it was a method of showing that the hand did not contain a weapon when two people met, the hand was raised up to be clearly viewed.

The second theory says that when winning athletes or war heroes were presented to the reigning queen many years ago, they raised their hand towards their eyes to indicate they were shielding themselves from the brightness of her beauty.

Because ships and submarines frequently have low ceilings with pipes etc attached to them, it is not appropriate to salute with a circular sweeping gesture because of the lack of height. The most practical naval salute is to place ones hand near ones navel. Michael Sobb, Rydalmere. The military salute has its origins in the raising of the visor on the helmet of a knight's armour to indicate that there is no threat.

It has been suggested that its origins go back even further to a simple open hand gesture to show that there is no weapon. The naval salute with the palm inwards traces back to the use of tar on Royal Navy ships. The palms of ordinary seamans' hands would be forever dirty so it was seen as good manners to hide this from superiors. Colin Beszant, Moss Vale. Back in the medieval era, knights and soldiers wore rather clunky armor, which included a full helmet and face-plate. That action of your hand moving towards your brow replicates the hundreds-of-years-old gesture today when approached by a superior officer notice it is always a lower rank saluting first, unless at the end of an address.

Either to show one is unarmed or raising a helmets visor to identify oneself. This evolved into the doffing of hats in the British army. To avoid costly wear and tear, the military changed the custom to an open handed gesture. The naval salute, adopted by all US forces, developed because British tars had dirty hands from sealing ship timbers.

They angled them to avoid offence. Knights in armour raised their visors to reveal their faces upon meeting other knights. Also the raised hand showed that they held no weapon. Hence the hand raised in the region of the face to show friendship and respect. When generals are not fighting wars they have to be kept busy with important activities like designing salutes. Yohdur Terry and June. WithoutPurpose Sarcasm … delivered deadpan, with warmth and a Yorkshire accent, can be the height of humour.

Dunnster71 I refer you to Fawlty Towers. TwirlipOfTheMists Fish puns. EnglishmanInDundee Tall stories? Aireman Those would fall flat, surely … AnAverageJoe In Elizabethan times, the pun was considered the highest form of wit. HepAthlete The highest form of wit must be someone telling a joke at the top of Mount Everest. ThereisnoOwl Shakespeare. Topics Life and style Notes and queries features.

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