Everyday Canvas

Voice and Sarcasm

Prompt: Describe the voice of a loved one who is no longer with you or write about your inability to hear and recognize it as a memory.

======

Note: This person has been deceased a bit more than twenty-five years. Since I’ll try to remember it as it was, I am going to answer the prompt in the present tense.


He lowers his pitch when he talks to me as if whispering. His voice is smooth, warm, soft, never loud. But it is also breathy as if that slight windy noise is caused by a turbulence in or near his throat. I always have a distant feeling that he is telling me a secret that he can’t put into words. Unfortunately, this alerts me to something unapproachable; thus, whenever I answer him, my voice come out creaky, muffled, annoyed, and somewhat darkened.

I think his voice would be classified as a high-baritone. He rounds his lips sometimes when he pronounces certain words, especially those with a lot of vowels in them. His rhythm is like that of a well-trained musician, although he isn’t a musician, and a few mannerisms accompany rhythm, usually involving his facial expressions, as he rarely uses his hands while speaking.

Yet, when he talks to other people, his voice is much stronger, more certain, more vibrant. His tone, pitch, and speed are more pronounced also, and his answers to what others are saying have a more commanding tone.

I guess I could make this entry more poetic, but I wanted to make it logical and more like an auditory judgment.

Prompt: What is the purpose of sarcasm? How can people recognize and handle sarcasm when it is directed at them?

Most of the time sarcasm shows annoyance but it can also be complimentary, depending on the inflection and the tone of the voice or if any humor is injected into the speech. Sarcastic people, however, may have the quicker grasp of the situation or what’s being said than others and are able to come up with a fast reply. I say this because, in the face of a situation or a negative word or line thrown at my face, I freeze at the spot and can’t find a proper answer, even if I may be able to recognize the situation.

I think the best way to handle it, although I can’t do it, is to answer the content of the remark possibly with a joke or another sarcastic remark. Something like, “Brilliant! tell me about it!” “Maybe you’ll like to try it my way,” depending on the situation. It is best not to get defensive and say something to explain myself like, “No, it isn’t what happened” or “I didn’t mean it that way.”

If unable to answer, it is better to ignore the sarcasm and not show anger. I'm working on this one at the moment.