>>In Pakistan, >>where pure Islamic laws are applied in courts for high degree crimes, >>death is the penalty for a rapist. I think such punishment is the >>source of discouragement for the others with evil minds. > >>John Handelaar >>Yeah, that obviously works. Syed wrote: > No offence, but are you serious or you are trying to make some sort of > fun? Oftentimes, one uses sarcasm to both: 1) make a serious point 2) make a humorous point this is sarcasm, irony, subtly different concepts: http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=sarcasm http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=irony I think it is safe to assume that rape is not funny. and that punishing rapists is not funny. so anything that smells like humor is probably meant in an ironic way. ahh ... the subtlety of language. HTH, Joe <http://artlung.com/blog/>