Dear Aspen,
Last week a boy texted asking me to dinner, to which I responded sarcastically, “That sounds like soooo much fun.” He didn’t get it! How can I make sure my sarcastic texts aren’t misconstrued?

Once again we see the dire need society has for a sarcastic font. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just switch on our sarcasm in a manner that everyone understood and go from there? Unfortunately, until technology buffs work on fixing another one of our first-world problems, we’ll need to be creative when it comes to sarcasm.

Smiley faces have helped texters make great strides in the sarcasm movement. The winking smiley face can often be used sarcastically. However, the winking smiley face has dangerous implications. To the hopeful and wishful thinking, the winking smiley is seen primarily as a symbol of flirtation. If you sent a text that said, “Can’t wait to see you later ;),” it could seem to the recipient that you have interesting ideas regarding the rest of the evening.

Others have employed the use of italicization or capitalization to emphasize their sarcasm. However, both styles are also associated with other emotions: italicizing is commonly used to portray internal thoughts, while capitalization generally implies that the sender is yelling.

Still others use laughing terms to be sarcastic. Lol’s, haha’s and heehee’s are seen frequently. As with italicization and capitalization, these terms have preset definitions, and are most often used to imply that the sender has found something amusing. Laughing terms do, however, employ sarcasm better than most other options. Ex: “You’re the best beer pong partner I’ve ever had. Haha.”

The best way I’ve found to portray sarcasm is to do so in a dry manner. Don’t supplement your texts with smiley faces, and punctuate every sentence. Texting often does not include punctuation anymore, and the appearance of a period can strongly influence the point of a statement.

Or you could just call the recipient a bro. That would make the message very clear. “Yeah, cool bro.”