Yesterday, during a conversation I had with a stranger I failed to recognize sarcasm. He actually had to point out that his response about the weather was sarcastic. I tried to recover in real time, with a little laugh and a slight acknowledgement but underneath I was truly mortified. Our conversation was really interesting too about AI, amorality, education, societal disconnect, but all I could think about afterwards was my inability to lob the ball back over the net - to return the sarcasm with more sarcasm like someone who had an actual pulse. My failure to do so made me run through a quick analysis; Had I dulled my brain by scrolling too many Korean break-dancing competitions on Facebook? Was I surrounding myself with too many “nice” people from the Midwest? Was I failing to see the humor in anything because my mind had become fractured between the mid-term elections, global unrest, climate change, and American unaccountability to each other, our former allies, and ourselves? Lastly, was my sarcastic lapse, me, giving up on being gotten?
Perhaps all of the above, but I truly think it boils down to the old adage if you don’t use it you lose it. So what could I do to regain my edge? It was truly a matter of self-respect. I suppose I could go into our local post office more often where one of the postmasters is a native New Yorker and always good for a quip or two. Or I could zoom with my friend overseas who used to upon introduction to youngsters preface the conversation with “Are you going to be boring?” throwing the meek back on their heels and leaving anyone with a sense of humor reeling. I could call my sons, as they are always in the zone and ready to riff, or I could listen to the stand-up kings of sarcasm, Don Rickles and George Carlin. Perhaps, I will just celebrate the Dem’s Blue Tsunami because everything is going to be fixed now and we can all go back to sleep.
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