Maybe it's not that funny after all...

The English language is fascinating to me. I love discovering where our words have come from and what the original meanings were. We've taken words from Latin and Greek and German and French and Japanese and many more. It's also fun (to me at least) to find groups of words with the same root. For example, check out these words:

Sarcophagus: a stone coffin. (from Greek (lithos) sarkophagos, literally, flesh-eating stone, from sark- sarc- + phagein to eat)

Sarcoma:  a usually malignant tumour arising from connective tissue (from Greek sarkōma  fleshy growth)

Sarcoptic Mange: mange caused by burrowing mites of the genus Sarcoptes.



These are all words that are fairly unpleasant. Death, decay, disease, etc...not pleasant at all.

But there's another word with the same root as these ones, and I just found out about it recently and it's made me rethink how I interact with others. There was an article in the Ensign magazine last month that brought it to my attention. Here's the link and I highly recommend reading it.

Sarcasm

Yep, the word sarcasm. Here's one definition I found online:

sar·casm

[sahr-kaz-uhm]

1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.

2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms.

Origin: 1570–80;  < Late Latin sarcasmus  < Greek sarkasmós,  derivative of sarkázein: to rend (flesh), sneer; 

 

To rend flesh...and all this time I thought sarcasm was a witty way of expressing humor making a point. So I started searching on lds.org to see what I could find about sarcasm and humor. Here are a few tidbits:

 

Brigham Young said that sarcastic and negative people “have little sense, and know not the difference between a happy smile of satisfaction to cheer the countenance of a friend, or a contemptuous sneer that brings the curses of man upon man” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 89). (link)

When we have a sarcastic, critical, judging, whining, blaming, or demanding attitude, we usually destroy good relationships. No one wants to be criticized, placed on the defensive, or misjudged.(link)

Another principle is to be cautious with humor. Loud, inappropriate laughter will offend the Spirit. A good sense of humor helps revelation; loud laughter does not. A sense of humor is an escape valve for the pressures of life. (link)

So it seems to me that humor can be a good thing, and often is. However, we need to be very cautious that our humor is not based on sarcasm, degradation, backbiting, insults, the "I'm just kidding" response, etc. These types of comments and humor can often figuratively "rend the flesh" causing spiritual and emotional death and decay, not only to the recipient of our remarks but to ourselves as well.

If you want a great example of the proper use of humor, I'd recommend going back and listening to President Gordon B. Hinckley's general conference addresses. (And you have to listen to the audio, since most of the time his comments were not published in the Ensign).

One time in particular stands out in my memory where he said something like this:

"I'd like to thank you all for being here today. We realize it's warm in here." (then he paused for effect and with a grin followed up with).  "It'll be a lot warmer if you don't repent"

Just some food for thought...