This should be filed under "almosts".

LA: Good idea.

the space in front of the order counter at fast food restaurants should be made up entirely of treadmills so that people get a bit of exercise while waiting for their supersized burgers and shakes

Claire,

I don't think that the excercise machines would be used at the fast food resturants by supersizing patrons. I think it is fair to claim that people who supersize their meals are not likely to exercise that often. Even if the supersize patrons were to use the exercise machines, the few calorie deficit from a few minutes of excercise would likely not even being to offset enormous caloric value of the supersize burger and shakes. While bearing in mind my points, please take a moment to consider that McDonald's executives actually decided to give away pedometers in an attempt to place a band-aid on the damage that their heart attack empire has wreaked upon the world.

Somehow, I tend to think Claire's comment was facetious.

Kip,

I am pretty sure that Claire was being serious since she didn't end her words with any sort of emoticon. Additionally, if Claire was not being serious then why would I respond so seriously?

Sincerely,
Nothalo

facetious?

I don't see what poop has to do with this discussion. Now you're just being childish.

Facetious comments don't always come with emoticons, and treehugger.com is not safe from two particular scourges of internet forums: undetected sarcasm, and trolling.

Ike,

Sarcasm can go undetected? Please explain.

Sincerely,
Nothalo

That sarcasm was undetected. It was.

Ike,

I have been thinking about it long and hard. Even though you deftly countered my claim about emoticons, you did not address my point about my addressing her points seriously. Regardless of the intention of Claire's words, her words ceased being sarcastic the moment that I addressed them as literal in my reply. If this isn't how language truly works then Ike I request that you give me another lesson on the nature of language which is both condescending and belies your foolishness.

sincerely,
Nothalo

I agree that Claire was being sarcastic. Because clearly fast food patrons are healthy individuals who do not need to exercise.

They are. They are.

Nothalo, I did not seek to detract from the value of your post, but rather, simply to point out that it can be very difficult for us to understand one another, even when we are all writing in the same language. I didn't even say whether I believed any of the posts in this thread were particular examples of trolling, or sarcasm going undectected. I understand that Claire's words were serious to you, but of course that doesn't make them serious to everyone. I think that in a forum like this, the intent of the writer will not always be clear to the reader. Also, in addition to all the sincere posts, there will allways be people posting things that they don't actually mean, whether out of anger or as an attempt at humor. It will often be difficult to distinguish which posts are which.


Sincerely, and with too many words,

Ike

Ike,

Please allow me to be crystal clear; At no point did I beleive that Claire was being serious. The fact that Claire wasn't being serious is obvious to everyone, even small children.

I am not sure what sort of disorder you have which makes you beleive that you were christened the prince of explaining the obvious. I am additionally unsure how someone such as yourself that deems to inform others about sarcasm when he himself be is dull as to be unable to perceive when a writer is clearly joking.

Am I taking crazy pills here or is it bizarre that Kip Kirwan and Ike can't understand basic sarcasm.

I found it odd that you couldn't pickup on the sarcasm of the first few posts, but I was completely dumbfounded when you couldn't detect the joke in my claim that "even if Claire's words were initially intended as facetious their intention changed the moment I replied to them 'seriously.'"

I am left thinking that either your mind couldn't handle such a concept or you honestly beleive that other humans think that the intention of one's words can be changed ex post facto by how another person responds to those words when clearly such a believe is insane. You must consider yourself to be the brilliant seer that understands logic far beyond us mere mortals to such an extent that you consider it your role to guide us. I can only assume that upon reading this you continue to be dense and will feel that my reaction is like one of the prisoners in plato's allegory of the cave whom turn against the enlightened man who tries to tell them the truth.

Nothalo, I must tip my hat to you. I failed to detect your original sarcasm, and then you trolled me with deftness of a master. For all I know, I might be getting trolled right now! My earlier words, my opinions, may not apply well to all or even any people; how could I know? ...but I'm sure now that I've been accurate enough in speaking for myself. How very meta.

There is no way anyone would have enough free time to go to treehugger.com to make sarcastic comments about sarcasm.

Mmmm meta-meta-sarcasm.

I know, it hurts your brain.