Texting, tweeting and even casual e-mail banter has created a barrage of acronyms that have woven themselves into our lexicon. Quick, succinct communications are filled with “lol”, “l8r” and other chat abbreviations. It’s convenient and saves up space for those character-limited messages; however, the words have been revolutionizing while the punctuation marks have remained unchanged.
Enter the SarcMark. Intended to close a sarcastic remark, it has been created and introduced by Sarcasm, Inc. For a small fee ($1.99), you can download the new punctuation mark to your phone or computer and unleash the fun if sarcasm happens to be your thing. I doled out the cash and downloaded the software out of curiosity. The mark looks like an inverted “at” sign with a period in the middle and I can add it to the end of a sentence by hitting the “control” and “period” keys simultaneously on my laptop to emphasize my sarcasm.
Paul Sak, a retired computer engineer and salesman, co-founded the business with his son, Doug, who maintains his full-time job as a CFO with an after-market automotive parts distributor. Doug came up with the idea eight years ago after writing a snarky note to a friend and realized there was no punctuation to affirm his light-hearted sarcasm. The Michigan-based tandem says their new mark deserves a place in the English language.
“We are serious about this mark and we want people to have fun with it. There is a sarcasm mark in the Ethiopian language so why not have one too. Even the French have the irony point,” says Paul Sak.
While the irony point does exist in the French language, appearing as a backwards question mark, it is not officially recognized. It has, however, appeared occasionally in obscure artistic and literary publications.
According to the company’s website, “The skeptics and the cynics just can’t see the power of the people to get behind a new idea and make it happen. We are not relying on some government entity, academic institution or self-serving organization to give us approval. Spread the word as we promote better communication through meaningful punctuation. Be sarcastic and have fun doing it.”
Speaking of academic institutions, I reached out to Leslie Epstein, Professor, and Director of the Creative Writing program at Boston University to get his opinion (yes, he is Theo Epstein's dad and no, I am not being sarcastic).
“I am against all shortcuts, particularly those used to express human emotion,” says Epstein. “That’s really all I have to say about our plunge into the abyss.”
E.J. Powers, a vice president of strategic communications at Montagne Communications, suspects it will garner some attention but is hesitant about predicting overwhelming success.
“I have learned not to discount any new technologies and trends and feel that there is an audience out there for just about anything. I remain skeptical if the SarcMark will catch on,” says Powers. “Our language and words have become even more abbreviated with the advent of Twitter and 140 characters don’t cost any money.”
I personally find the concept somewhat comical although, just like Professor Epstein, I don’t plan to become a pioneer for its official acceptance. You can buy ringtones for your phone and this is similar in scope as it provides another way for people to express themselves electronically. I think this mark has its place and my endorsement ends there.
The Saks launched their website three weeks ago and while they won’t provide exact numbers regarding sales, they tell me the volume of downloads from their site is “in the thousands.”
Now, here's the caveat. The receiver of a message with an embedded SarcMark also needs the software to view it, otherwise they'll get a placeholder instead. I discovered this after giving the SarcMark a test drive by sending sarcastic messages of my own to some friends who each received them on different devices; a square from a laptop, a filled-in box on a Blackberry and a period from an iPhone is what they saw.
The Saks say their idea is becoming viral thanks in part to media interest, blogger reaction and online discussion. But just remember, if your friends don't have the software too, there's no way on earth they'll know you're being sarcastic.
After spending a couple bucks on this mark, sensibility prevailed and I also logged onto redcross.com and made a donation to the relief effort in Haiti. Please follow my lead if you decide to download the SarcMark software too.
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