Sarcasm is a form of expression that’s meant to mock someone or something in humorously subtle ways. It can have an element of ambivalence, but it doesn’t have to be ironic.

While it can translate into written form, sarcasm is usually used and easiest to identify in spoken language because of the way it’s being said—with an inflection, sudden or quick change in tone to emphasize something ridiculous.

Besides it being a literary method of expressing comedy or pointing out the painful reality of something, sarcasm is suggested to also be a source of fostering creativity.

Research suggests that the use of sarcasm—either giving or receiving—if done right, might spark creativity among individuals because of the sheer brain power needed to process the statements and the underlying undertones.

The logic behind creativity in sarcasm is that the brain is forced to think in unorthodox ways to understand or convey sarcasm-laden comments.

The brain has to work a bit of overtime to understand where the literal ends and the actual begins. It’s a process that triggers abstraction, in turn enabling creative thinking to happen at all.

If you need an example, this listicle has ample fodder for that. Speaking of which, so does this Instagram page. This particular one was created back in 2017 and features all sorts of comedic memes, not necessarily sarcastic ones. It currently clocks in at just 105 posts shy of 12,000 and boasts a community of 1.2 million followers.

This is not to be confused with another Instagram page of a very similar name—sarcasm_us—and literally the same picture, which is an artistic rendition of Chandler Bing. That has nearly 3 times fewer posts, but over 10 million followers. This one was set up in 2016 and its Facebook counterpart was created in late 2015, all managed by Digihood Media.

Anywho, back to sarcasm. Turns out, if you can detect sarcasm, that shows that your brain is in a comparatively good standing health-wise. A lack of ability to pick up on sarcasm might be indicative of certain brain problems, like dementia. MRI research suggests that the part of the brain that deals with your sarcasm dosage is the same that deals with memory, so keep an eye on that.

Other reasons sarcasm is awesome include helping with social selection and adding authenticity to your feelings of affection. Not only does sarcasm filter out all the losers who just don’t get your sense of humor—people you probably wouldn’t want to be around anyway—but sprinkling some dichotomic humor about how hate is love might sound more genuine than it would if you, a sarcastic boi or gurl, said it more directly.

Another interesting turn of events is the idea that sarcasm, while potentially negative in nature, has the power to de-escalate conflicts. Folks who know us will not react in the same violent way as strangers would. By proxy, folks who know us will more likely crack up at hearing us blurt out something that’s “typical” from us, yet they still didn’t expect it.

And speaking of conflict resolution, there’s the idea that sarcasm might have been a key part in our survival as a species. It actually pertains to the same idea that sarcasm is a certain kind of filter for friendships. It allows us to filter out friends from foes, but also, just the idea of having zero sarcastic sense and stopping to ponder someone’s sarcastic remark about being chased by a lion whilst being chased by a lion would quickly lead to a Darwin award.

So, if you’ve enjoyed this bit of sarcasm and flat out fun, you bet your behind there’s more, and Bored Panda has it.

But if you need to call it a night because scrolling until 3AM is just not good for your future self, then why not just give us that upvote and maybe leave something sarcastic in the comment section and go get some rest!