 If
you don't see a difference between that definition and the one for sarcastic,
stop looking. Obviously the word sarcasmic embeds the word sarcasm,
which is a noun defined as "witty language used to convey insults or scorn."
Here is how sarcasmic came about.
In preparing my response to a baiting question in an e-mail polemic, I noticed that I had typed the noun sarcasm and decided that adjusting the sentence to use the adjectival form sarcastic worked better. However, I made an editing error...At that moment, I thought it was new. A quick search on the Web turned up a handful of hits. One in particular gave several definitions, my personal favorite being "explosively sarcastic; generally denoting sarcasm that has been building and kept inside and is suddenly released in a blast of rudeness (sarcastic + orgasmic)." Flatulence comes to (my) mind.My policy is to invite correspondents {a} to express their own opinions (niquette.com has hundreds of mine for all the world to see) and {b} to answer their own rhetorical questions, especially when sincerity is put in doubt by a sarcasmic formulation such as "What is it about [your opinion] that gives you confidence to say [whatever]?"One click of my 'Send' icon and a new word was born. Might that same linguistic magic work with other -asm nouns? I wondered. In addition to sarcasm I could think of only five; however, simply adding -ic does not do much for them: enthusiasmic, fantasmic, orgasmic, pleonasmic, spasmic. Adjectival forms already exist for each: enthusiastic, fantastic, orgastic, pleonastic, spastic. There are more than two dozen spasms in the medical vocabulary, and they doubtless get routinely made into adjectives by adding -ic on a patient's chart. algospasmic, angiospasmic, arteriospasmic, blepharospasmic, bronchospasmic, camptospasmic, cardiospasmic, cheirospasmic, chirospasmic, clonospasmic, colpospasmic, dactylospasmic, enterospasmic, gastrospasmic, glossospasmic, graphospasmic, gyrospasmic, hemispasmic, hysterospasmic, idiospasmic, laryngospasmic, logospasmic, myospasmic, pharyngospasmic, proctospasmic, pseudoneoplasmic, pylorospasmic, urethrospasmic, and vasospasmic.The same might be said of biology's three dozen plasms; however, the one I'm made out of, protoplasm, probably does not need protoplasmic as its adjectival form. axioplasmic, axoplasmic, deuteroplasmic, basoplasmic, bioplasmic, cytoplasmic, cataplasmic, centroplasmic, deutoplasmic, ectoplasmic, endoplasmic, entoplasmic, ergastoplasmic, exoplasmic, germplasmic, heteroplasmic, hyaloplasmic, hygroplasmic, idioplasmic, karyoplasmic, kinetoplasmic, metaplasmic, myoplasmic, mythoplasmic, neoplasmic, neuroplasmic, nucleoplasmic, ooplasmic, ovoplasmic, paraplasmic, periplasmic, piroplasmic, proplasmic, protoplasmic, sarcoplasmic, somatoplasmic, sporoplasmic, stereoplasmic, and viroplasmic. Playing
with suffixes (suffices?) sure can be fun, though. See for example
matriphobia
and neologer. You may not have to be a
Latin student to do it, either. Consider the so-called "-isms,"
of which almost 2,000 are defined in dictionaries on the Web. The
-ism
suffix can apparently refer to idealogies (communism, socialism,...),
personal philosophies (idealism, pragmatism,...), forbidden acts
(plagiarism, vandalism,...), behaviors (conformism, heroism,...)....
Whatever the linguistic explanation, something about a noun changes in
going from -ism to
-asm. Consider what amounts to 150
neologisms (neologasms?)...
agnosticasm, antagonasm, aphorasm, asceticasm, atheasm, autasm, boosterasm, botulasm, cannabalasm, capitalasm, catechasm, colonialasm, communasm, conformasm, conservativasm, consumerasm, creationasm, criticasm, cronyasm, cubasm, cynicasm, dadaasm, Darwinasm, defeatasm, demonasm, despotasm, determineasm, dogmatasm, dualasm, dwarfasm, dynamasm, ecumenicasm, egalitarianasm, egotasm, elitasm, euphemasm, evangelasm, expansionasm, fanaticasm, fascasm, favoritasm, fetishasm, feudalasm, giantasm, globalasm, hedonasm, heroasm, holasm, humanasm, humanitarianasm, idealasm, internalasm, interventionasm, ioticasm, isolationasm, journalasm, Lamarckasm, leftasm, liberalasm, magnetasm, mannerasm, marxasm, masochasm, McCarthyasm, mechanasm, militaryasm, minimalasm, monotheasm, moralasm, morphasm, morphasm, multilateralasm, narcissasm, nativeasm, naturalasm, negativeasm, neoconservativeasm, neofascasm, neologasm, nepotasm, nihilasm, nonconformasm, normalasm, nudasm, objectivasm, occultasm, opportunasm, optimiasm, organasm, pacifasm, paganasm, panderasm, parallelasm, passimasm, patriotasm, phallicasm, plagiarasm, platonasm, polytheasm, populasm, positiveasm, postmodernasm, pragmatasm, privatasm, progressiveasm, purasm, racasm, radicalasm, realasm, recidivasm, reductionasm, reformasm, relativeasm, religionasm, revivalasm, rightasm, ritualasm, rowdyasm, sadasm, satanasm, schisasm, sectarianasm, sentimentalasm, separatasm, servomechasm, skepticasm, snobbasm, socialasm, solipsasm, somnambulasm, subjectivasm, supernaturalasm, surrealasm, synergasm, terrorasm, theasm, tokenasm, totalitarianasm, tourasm, tribalasm, trilateralasm, trivalasm, truasm, unilateralasm, unionasm, utilitarianasm, utopianasm, vandalasm, volcanasm, voyeurasm, witticasm, yankeeasm, and zionasm.In most cases the -ism word gets transformed into something unintententional if not actually undesirable as an -asm word, perhaps the consequence of extremism (extremasm?). If so, adjectival forms suffixed with -asmic may come in handy. But not for me.Every time I have used sarcasmic, my correspondent has broken off communications with me.
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