挖苦是一種尖銳,直接而富有攻擊性的表達方式。這種表達方式一般在嘲笑辱罵他人時使用。[1][2]在日常語言中,「挖苦」一詞通常被認為和反諷有關[3],或者指出對方的自相矛盾之處[4],但實際上,挖苦不一定帶有反諷[5]Dictionary.com認為挖苦是一種更嚴厲的嘲笑[6]

詞源學

漢語中:《二十年目睹之怪現狀》第四一回:「說是測字先生看《經世文編》,看來他還想做官,還想大用呢。從此就三三兩兩,時來挖苦。」

西方語言中,這個詞來自於希臘語的 σαρκασμός(sarkasmos),後者又來自於 σαρκάζειν,本意是「活生生撕開,憤怒地咬下唇,冷笑」。

在英語中,此詞在1579年出現,來自愛德華·斯賓塞牧羊人日曆(The Shepheardes Calender)。

參考資料

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary
  2. ^ Boxer, D. 4 - 'Yeah right:' sociolinguistic functions of sarcasm in classroom discourse. Applying Sociolinguistics: Domains and Face-to-Face Interaction. John Benjamins Publications. 2002: 100. ISBN 978-90-272-1850-6. Only people can be sarcastic, whereas situations are ironic. 
  3. ^ Fowler, Henry Watson. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press. 1950. Sarcasm does not necessarily involve irony. But irony, or the use of expressions conveying different things according as they are interpreted, is so often made the vehicle of sarcasm ... The essence of sarcasm is the intention of giving pain by (ironical or other) bitter words 
  4. ^ Rockwell, P. A. Sarcasm and Other Mixed Messages: The Ambiguous Ways People Use Language. Edwin Mellen Press. 2006. ISBN 978-0-7734-5917-5. 
  5. ^ Partridge, Eric. Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English. Penguin Press. 1969. ISBN 0-393-31709-9. Irony must not be confused with sarcasm, which is direct: sarcasm means precisely what it says, but in a sharp, caustic, ... manner. 
  6. ^ Irony. Dictionary. Dictionary.com. [2023-06-24]. (原始內容存檔於2010-12-18).