Sarcasm.  Some people might say it’s a curse. In fact, when we first started dating my hubby didn’t much appreciate my sarcasm. Over the years he has brought it up several times as something I should, perhaps, try to work on. I have always felt that was like asking someone to stop speaking their native language just because you couldn’t speak it. I mean, I felt sorry for him and wished there was a Rosetta Stone for Sarcasm so he could work on it in his spare time. Occasionally, I felt bad and would try to speak his language, but I found it to be dull.

I also had a difficult time keeping the sarcasm to a minimum when out in public. When you are fluent in a language it is challenging to keep it from just spewing out in the middle of a dinner party or even at the grocery store. It’s especially humiliating when your native tongue slips out of your mouth and is met by blank stares. I often felt that I was less than because I didn’t speak the same language as some of these other people.

And then I read an article this week that changed my life.

Apparently a new study published in Smithsonian Magazine has found that sarcastic people (Lowi & G) “have been found to be scientifically smarter.” Richard Chin goes on to say, “sarcasm requires a series of ‘mental gymnastics.’ Sarcastic, satirical or ironic statements all compel the brain to ‘think beyond the literal meaning of the words and understand that the speaker may be thinking of something entirely different.'”

Dan Scotti from Elite Daily covered this story and explains that, “in a way, sarcasm forces us to think one step ahead – a notion that science defends. In one experiment, by attaching electrodes to the brain and monitoring their activity (in response to sarcastic and non-sarcastic statements), electrical activity levels were increased when test subjects were exposed to sarcasm.”

So, G and I will just be sitting over here at Lowi & G doing our mental gymnastics in our talented and gifted program. We will try not to look down on you if sarcasm is difficult for you to understand. We realize not everyone has been gifted with intelligence like ours.

Sunshine & Sarcasm,
Lowi & G