The transition, however, has not been easy for some, and many business technologies have yet to be phased out. The move to the digital era has made it possible for entire businesses to operate in small spaces and even operate entirely online. Today, nearly all aspects of our lives are on the computer, and the same goes for businesses. (They first bookended sarcastic statements with HTML-like tags, which was pretty neat.) /s is especially prevalent on Reddit, which has a disproportionally sarcastic user base.The move to the digital era began with the movement of computational power to solve issues like quickly solving mathematics and creating word processing. Over the years, Internet users eventually settled on using /s to denote sarcastic statements.

If they have, that's sarcasm.īecause recognizing sarcasm so heavily depends on hearing subtle changes in a person's voice and manner of speaking, sarcasm is notoriously difficult to convey via online messages. One way to recognize a sarcastic statement is to consider whether a person has both agreed with you and mocked you at the same time. When someone makes a sarcastic statement, their tone of voice usually shifts to a higher or lower pitch, and they tend to speak in a more drawn-out manner.

This convention is most often used on online forums and social media sites, though it's also sometimes used in online chat and text messages.įor the uninitiated, sarcasm is the use of irony to ridicule someone or mock their actions. When someone ends a statement with /s, it means they intended that statement to be read sarcastically.

What does s stand for