by Gwynn Guilford
Five scientific studies of email communications find that, in the absence of paralinguistic cues, we often assume others understand tone and sentiment when they don't. This presumption is "born of egocentrism, the inherent difficulty of detaching onesself from one's own perspective," write the scientists. The crux of their argument rests on the well-known Aykroyd-Belushi corollary:
"Because senders knew, for example, that the statement 'Blues Brothers, 2000—now that’s a sequel,' was meant to be sarcastic, they egocentrically assumed that their audience would as well. They presumably did not realize how ambiguous the statement really is without verbal emphasis on the word "that’s," a facial gesture such as an eye roll, or some background information about the communicator (such as his or her taste in films)."
But don't worry – you're still mostly funny:
"Note, however, that despite reliable overconfidence, accuracy rates were quite high (84%). It would therefore be misleading to suggest from these data that people are poor at communicating sarcasm over e-mail. These data do suggest, however, that however able people are, they are not as able as they believe."
The Dish 