Talk Is Cheap: Sarcasm, Alienation, and the Evolution of Language
Putting aside questions of truth and falsehood, the old "talk is cheap" maxim carries as much weight as ever. Indeed, perhaps more. For one need not be an expert in irony or sarcasm to realize that people don't necessarily mean what they say. Phrases such as "Yeah, right" and "I could care less" are so much a part of the way we speak - and the way we live - that we are more likely to notice when they are absent (for example, Forrest Gump). From our everyday dialogues and conversations ("Thanks a lot!") to the screenplays of our popular films (Pulp Fiction), what is said is frequently very different from what is meant.
Welcome to Torrance, Florida. Population: 4,160. A small town in the middle of Alligator Alley, a safe place where residents feel comfortable leaving their doors unlocked and allowing their children to run freely. It's also the town that Sandy Crosbie, a high school English teacher and mother of two teenagers, now calls home, thanks to her philandering husband who moved the family from New York just so he could live closer to the Barbie clone he secretly met on an Internet chat line.