Sardonic

1. Sardonic By: VishaalKalwani

2. Definition • Sar-don-ic [sahr-don-ik] • Adj. • characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; cynical; sneering • Taken from www.dictionary.com

3. Etymology • 1630s • From French, sardonique • From Latin, sardonius in Sardoniusrisus • loan-translation of Gk. sardonios (gelos) "of bitter or scornful (laughter),“ • The greeks also believed that eating a plant entitled called sardonia caused facial expressions smilar to sardonic laughter • Taken from www.etymonline.com

4. Examples in Literature • “She does not search out the grounds of motive like George Eliot, nor illumine them like Meredith by search-light flashes of insight, nor like Hardy display them by irony sardonic or pitying, nor like Henry James thread a labyrinth of indications and intimations, repulsions and attractions right and left, all pointing to the central temple, where sits the problem.” • F.W. Cornish in Criticisms and Interpretations of Jane Austen

5. Examples in Literature • “The compliments which Dom Claude thus addressed to Jacques Coictier were uttered in that tone of veiled, bitter, sardonic raillery, with that grievous, yet cruel, smile of a superior and unfortunate man, who seeks a moment’s distraction in playing on the gross vanity of the vulgarly prosperous man.” • Victor Marie Hugo (1802–1885).  Notre Dame de Paris. The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction.  1917.

6. Examples in Literature • “The author himself, far from ‘doing it in a passion,’ wears a face of the most still indifference throughout the whole affair; often it is even wrinkled by a slight sardonic grin.” • -J.W. von Goethe in Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship

7. 10 Sardonic Things • Jon Stewart • Stephen Colbert • Critics • Cartoons • Opinion Articles • Peers in high school • Governmental dissenters • The world towards America • Celebrity gossipers • Ad hominem debaters

8. Auditory and Visual Representation http://www.craphound.com/images/ripyourfaceoff.jpg