Understanding sarcasm is this huge mental feat. From “The Guardian Weekly”: “First, the language centre in the brain’s left hemisphere interprets the literal meaning of words. Next, the frontal lobes and right hemisphere process the speaker’s intention and check for contradictions between the literal meaning and the social and emotional context. Finally, the right ventromedial prefontal cortex–our sarcasm meter–makes a decision based on our social and emotional knowledge of the situation.” Wow. Just the thought of hearing a sarcastic comment exhausts me.