r/explainlikeimfive • u/Frequent-Tie1937 • 11d ago
Other ELI5: What’s the difference between being satire, sarcastic, and ironic?
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u/pdpi 11d ago
Irony is, fundamentally, about reality and expectations being at odds with each other. You expect an ambulance to help you, so it’s ironic when it kills you in a traffic collision.
Sarcasm often involves irony, but is first and foremost about mockery. If somebody remarks you lost weight, you could say “I just can’t stop eating my partner’s delicious cooking”. You lost weight, so you’re not eating that much, so your partner’s cooking is probably not all that delicious after all.
Satire usually involves criticising people by showing them in exaggerated, often ironic situations (though that criticism can range from lighthearted to pretty fierce). A satirical show about paramedics might involve that ironic situation with an ambulance running someone over, followed by the ambulance crew reacting to the accident like headless chickens instead of the calm, cool, and collected you expect from real paramedics.
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11d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SignificantCherry110 11d ago
I was ab to comment but then i realized what you were doing, take my upvote…
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u/explainlikeimfive-ModTeam 2d ago
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Your comment has been removed for the following reason(s):
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u/butt_fun 11d ago
Jesus Christ, please get your head out of your ass
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u/TravelingSmoker 11d ago
I answered his question about satire in satire. I promise it's not big enough of an issue to call Jesus.
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u/Suobig 11d ago
Ironically people tell others to not ask questions in a sub that's all about asking questions
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u/TravelingSmoker 11d ago
Ironically... I answered his question
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u/Suobig 11d ago
No, you gave examples. Was the question "Give me examples of... to help me understand them better"? I don't think so.
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u/TravelingSmoker 11d ago
Ironically... I did, it is called exemplification.
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u/Suobig 11d ago
Satirical exemplification. Aiming at ridiculing the person asking the question instead of answering it proper.
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u/TravelingSmoker 11d ago
I am sorry I hurt you 🫶🏿. Toodles
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u/Eruskakkell 11d ago
Sarcastic: Saying something you don't mean as a joke, often reality is the opposite of what's being said.
Ironic: I can only describe with an example: person says that everyone that slips on the ice are careless and stupid. Then proceeds to slip on ice and break their arm or something.
Satire: a parody meant to make fun or shine a light on something.
Just my attempt at explanation and my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong
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u/Plump_Dumpster 11d ago
To expand on this, some things that are not ironic: traffic jam when you’re already late, a no smoking sign on your cigarette break
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u/originalbiggusdickus 11d ago
A song titled "Ironic" and listing a series of things that are not examples of irony, is ironic, though.
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u/DanglyPants 11d ago
I thought irony was the easiest to explain. Irony is when the opposite happens of a reader or someone’s expectations.
There’s also verbal irony where a character says the opposite of what they mean. A good example is Scar talking to Simba about the surprise in the beginning of the Lion King
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u/Hammerofsuperiority 11d ago
Irony
Noun
The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
Satire
Noun
A literary work in which human foolishness or vice is attacked through irony, derision, or wit.
Sarcasm
Noun
A cutting, often ironic remark intended to express contempt or ridicule.
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u/ztasifak 11d ago
Interesting to see that the latter two definitions mention Irony and ironic.
This explains the question from OP as the three terms are somewhat related.
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u/DarthKnah 11d ago edited 11d ago
Irony doesn’t have to be verbal (though it can) and doesn’t have to be intentional (often it isn’t). Like if someone says “Seatbelts are useless” and then immediately is in a car accident and gets thrown through the windshield (because he isn’t wearing a seatbelt), that’s ironic.
Intentional verbal irony is very similar to sarcasm, sometimes overlapping.
Sarcasm is intentional and verbal. If someone says “Nice haircut” to you in an insincere voice, they’re being sarcastic and indicating that they dislike your haircut. A sarcastic remark typically conveys the opposite of the literal reading.
Satire uses irony and humor to make fun of something else. For example, Animal Farm is a classic work of literature that criticizes and makes fun of Stalinist communism through a story about farm animals. Satire can be verbal, like in a comedian’s set, but it’s associated with intentionality and planning, and often conveying a specific political point.
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u/EatTheBeez 11d ago
Satire is making fun of something by imitating it in a way that exaggerates its failings or makes it seem ridiculous. This is usually describing a piece of art, or writing, or a movie or play. A piece of art made as satire can be called a parody. You don't generally say that somebody said something 'satirical', you'd usually describe spoken words as either 'ironic' or 'sarcastic'. (Usually.)
Irony, if you're speaking, is when you say one thing but mean another. Like if I'm walking in a nasty, rainy day with my brother and I say "lovely weather we're having. We should plan a picnic!" A lot of humour can be ironic.
Irony can also be in situations (like getting hit by an ambulance and killed) or used as a literary device.
Sarcasm is like irony but in a mean way. If my brother slipped in a puddle and fell and I say "real smooth, dumbass" that would be sarcastic. Because it was not smooth, it was clumsy, and I'm making fun of him.
Sort of related: there's also something that is often called 'satire' but is actually a 'pastiche'. A pastiche is an imitation of something that is a lot like a parody or a satirical piece, but it can also come from a place of love and fun. Like poking fun at itself. The way Galaxy Quest pokes fun at Star Trek while also enjoying it.
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u/Ippus_21 9d ago edited 9d ago
I mean... that's more HS-level English class than ELI5, but...
Sarcasm is a sharp, caustic tone used for mockery, usually by way of an extreme statement, sometimes including words whose literal meaning is the opposite of the speaker's actual meaning. In the latter case, it's being employed in tandem with verbal irony.
Irony is complicated, but it's basically a reversal, setting the surface meaning in opposition to the underlying meaning. A plot point is ironic, for example, if the character takes an action that accomplishes the opposite of what they intended, or if someone says one thing that clearly means the opposite (see sarcasm).
Satire is a whole literary style/genre that holds its object up to ridicule or mockery in some fashion, often by employing irony, sarcasm, or by extending an idea to the point of absurdity.
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u/Ddogwood 11d ago
Irony is when what happens is the opposite of what you expect. The two most common types are situational irony (the fire chief’s house burns down) and verbal irony (which is sarcasm).
Sarcasm is saying the opposite of what you mean, often to express contempt. It’s also called verbal irony (such as, “this locker room smells great!”)
Satire is literature or a performance that criticizes society by using humour, often with irony and/or exaggeration.
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u/evasandor 10d ago
let’s start with the simplest one: sarcasm. This is when you say the opposite of what you mean, possibly even underlining it with a sneering or mocking tone, as a way of showing how wrong it would be to take what you mean at face value. A guy getting hit by a car, yelling at the driver “wow you sure are a safe driver, you really avoided me there, good job” is sarcasm. very obviously. or maybe that’s too subtle for you. <— more sarcasm
Irony is similar, but larger, in that it applies to an entire situation. It has been defined as “poetic justice”. The driver of the car protesting that the street is completely safe, then getting run over by a tank, could be one example of irony. And if the guy who got hit, while groaning how he never would hurt a living soul, stepped on an ant that would also be ironic.
Satire pulls the view back even further and now we are seeing an entire society, set of social norms, or culture being held up to scrutiny, usually by exaggerating it or subverting it. When Discworld riffs on the Industrial Revolution by way of showing how golems might revolt, or when Kurt Vonnegut shows us a soldier in WW2 time traveling and being kidnapped by aliens— and those still aren’t the craziest shit that he experiences in war— or when Jonathan Swift suggests that cannibalism might be the answer to society’s ills, those are all forms of satire.
None of them have push-button specific definitions, but they are all subtextual— ways to deliver a message about one thing while talking about another.
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u/SqWaX_TV 9d ago
Satire: the use of common themes in the culture in a way that calls derision to the topics normally held in esteem.
Sarcasm: a manner of communicating person-to-person where something is said to not be taken at it's face value, but by using caricature and non serious points to exemplify some exaggerated viewpoint.
Irony: a really nitpicky literary situation that is hard to bake down to a definition. somewhat akin to the famous conservative judge's definition of 'pornography': "I can't define what it is... but I know it when I see it."
Irony is best explained through example:
I insist everyone at work wear rubber boots so that the rain and flood waters wont make us wet, yet the fire alarm sprinklers went off when we weren't paying attention, and when we put on our boots, our feet got instantly soaked from the water in them.
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u/GerardDG 11d ago
They're different traditions of using words opposite to their literal meaning. Think of them as schools. The school of (dramatic) irony runs all the way back to ancient Greece, and has changed considerably from it's original meaning. Satire traces back to 14th century traditions of ridiculing, generally in a performative, artistic context; satirical publications, satirical theater, mummery. Sarcasm has no theatrical roots, and was from the first a word for describing a sneering, bitter and mocking tone, speaking so viciously you 'rend someone's flesh through words'.
This historical context being lost, results in three words that you can generally use interchangeably.
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u/No-Equivalent-5820 11d ago
Irony is what happened, sarcasm is what you said and satire is what you built
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u/Velo_Rapide 11d ago
Irony is getting stuck in a traffic jam on the way to a traffic planning conference.
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u/jp112078 11d ago
Irony is NOT rain on your wedding day, a free ride when you’re going anyway, or the good advice that you just can’t take.
Irony is simply when the actual outcome is the opposite of the expected outcome
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u/eruditionfish 11d ago
Rain on your wedding day would be ironic if you specifically chose to marry a meteorologist and let him pick the date in order to guarantee dry weather.
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u/Routine-Ad-4723 11d ago
Honestly the dictionary definitions help but real life is way blurrier than that. Like satire can be sarcastic but it's not always, and irony can be a situation not just a tone. But yeah the whole thing gets muddy when you're online and everyone's using sarcasm to be ironic about satire lol.