The Captain’s Log

Pontifications of The Great and Terrible Captain Cucamunga.

Sat, 14 Sep 2024 22:09:47 EDT

Sardonic Versus Sarcastic

Sardonic
To be sardonic is to mock, to doubt, or to scorn with black humor or melodrama. An expression of bitterness or cynicism is not sardonic unless the expression has a degree of unexpected cleverness. “A sudden slip of the San Andreas Fault could cause California to sink into the ocean, and then something bad might happen.”
Sarcastic
To be sarcastic is to mock, to doubt, or to scorn with irony. When you are ironic, you make statements that have the opposite meaning to your intended meaning. “Of course I love your burned, dry meatloaf.”