Friday, May 27, 2005

Sarcasm brain areas discovered

According to this BBC News article, scientists have located the parts of the brain that comprehend sarcasm. Language areas on the left hand side of the brain interpret the literal meaning of words and the frontal lobes and the right side of the brain understand the social and emotional context.

This reminds me of the Monty Python skit about the notorious Piranha brothers Doug and Dinsdale. Dinsdale was a homicidal maniac but people were more afraid of Doug:
Well, I was terrified. Everyone was terrified of Doug. I've seen grown men pull their own heads off rather than see Doug. Even Dinsdale was frightened of Doug. He used... sarcasm. He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. He was vicious.
It loses a bit in print but it's vintage Python.
posted by Bob at 5/27/2005 06:00:00 PM  | | digg | del.icio.us | reddit