One of the biggest problems with living and communicating almost exclusively online is that it’s much harder to convey tone with text alone. If I tell someone they did a “great job” on something in real life, they can immediately tell by my tone of voice if I really mean it. If I type it over Slack or email, people could easily (and have!) read the same words as sarcastic, and therefore very insulting. I’ve always thought the internet could use a sarcasm font. I wouldn’t even use it that much, but the fact that it exists would at least make it clearer when I’m not being sarcastic. But what would this font look like? According to Know Your Meme, the answer to this question first appeared in 2017 in the form of the now familiar Mocking SpongeBob meme. It features the cartoon icon, square ass jutting out, leaning forward, eyes pointing stupidly in opposite directions. Critically, the meme is accompanied by text written in alternating upper and lower case letters, which at this point pErFeCtLy CoNvEyS a SaRcAsTiC tOnE. While the Mocking SpongeBob method perfectly conveys sarcasm, it is a pain in the ass to type. Enter the sarcasm converter, a device that streamlines the process of typing sarcastically. Simply plug the device into your keyboard, type normally, and the convertor will automatically spit out alternating upper and lower case letters.
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The creator of the device, who goes by Ben on Twitter, explained that it is compatible with any regular keyboard and uses a “man-in-the-middle attack” (meaning the device alters the signal before it reaches its destination) to toggle the caps lock on and off after every keystroke. Conveniently, the device includes an on/off switch so you only type this way when you need to engage in some sarcasm. Ben said he built the device using two RaspberryPi Pico boards.
Obviously, the sarcasm converter is a handmade device, so you can’t just order one online, but I believe there’s a huge market for it. I would certainly buy one. It would make it much easier to communicate with people online, WhIcH iS oNe Of My FaVoRiTe AcTiViTiEs.