![]() ![]() Let's have a look at the first example in particular, where the confusion may lie in failing to differentiate the description of Ryan's jab from the actual jab (the pointed comment) itself. In each case, "oh-so-" is used in a straightforward way to intensify the following word. None of the examples given in the question are sarcastic in tone. "You have been working hard," he said with heavy sarcasm, as he looked at the empty page. Made in order to hurt someone's feelings or to criticize something in The use of remarks that clearly mean the opposite of what they say, This is not the case - at least, it's no more true than the use of "very" or any other intensifier. Does it indicate sarcasm?Ī number of answers have suggested that the addition "oh-so-" is often used in a sarcastic context. We would therefore interpret oh-so-lonely as something like "so lonely it made me sigh", and oh-so-clever as "so clever it made me gasp". The "oh" in the expression gives the added sense of a sigh or gasp (depending on context), heightening the emotional content of the expression. However, the idiomatic addition of oh enables so to be used attributively (though why, I'm not sure!): "the oh so clever joke." ![]() So is itself an intensifier, but it can normally only be used predicatively - "that joke was so clever" but not "the so clever joke". ![]() The expression "oh-so-" is an intensifier, a linguistic term for a modifier that "serves to enhance and give additional emotional context to the word it modifies". ![]()
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