The Doctor, a master of sarcasm
- "Maybe all those command subroutines are compromising your medical abilities."
- "Maybe all that sarcasm is compromising your natural charm."
Sarcasm was a mode of expression, common among Humans and many other species, in which the speaker made a bitter jibe or taunting remark about someone or something. Sarcasm often involved irony to some extent.
According to Elim Garak, Odo was rather skilled in the use of sarcasm. (DS9: "The Die is Cast")
Neelix, annoyed with Tuvok for ignoring and belittling his suggestions, stated that he hid contempt and sarcasm beneath an exterior of Vulcan calm. (VOY: "Rise") While Vulcans were not generally known for having a sense of humor, Tuvok had something of flair for dry sarcasm. When he and several other members of the USS Voyager crew beamed down to Los Angeles on Earth in 1996 wearing fitting civilian clothing for the time, he commented "We could have worn our Starfleet uniforms. I doubt if anyone would have noticed," upon observing some of the more colorful local fashions. (VOY: "Future's End") In 2374, when Captain Kathryn Janeway, addled by Srivani experiments that were pumping up her dopamine levels, urged him to "straighten out" thirteen department heads regarding lax behavior on Voyager, he responded "Shall I flog them as well?" (VOY: "Scientific Method")
Perhaps unusual for a hologram, The Doctor developed quite a knack for sarcasm, which his creator Lewis Zimmerman noted in 2377, commenting that he had not programmed The Doctor for sarcasm. Zimmerman, a mostly bald man, had something of a knack for sarcasm himself, telling The Doctor that one of the initial symptoms of the illness that was threatening his life was "radical hair loss." (VOY: "Life Line") When the Voyager crew first made contact with the Qomar, The Doctor, annoyed with their patronizing mannerisms, delivered a sarcastic parody. (VOY: "Virtuoso") That same year, when a queasy Harry Kim criticized The Doctor, then in ECH mode, for neglecting his primary medical duties, suggesting that The Doctor's command subroutines might be compromising his medical abilities, The Doctor turned their conversation into a sarcastic repartee, as he drily remarked that all that sarcasm might be compromising Kim's natural charm. (VOY: "Workforce")
Examples of sarcasm
One could invent items that didn't actually exist for the purpose of making a sarcastic remark in order to amplify the ridiculousness of the statement being made. Examples included the "Cardassian Ministry for the Refutation of Bajoran Fairy Tales" (DS9: "Explorers") and the "Captain Proton Comatizer" (VOY: "Repression"), invented by Benjamin Sisko and Harry Kim respectively in sarcastic responses.