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it has been observed here by members of the UKind that USns just don't get irony. this morning I found, on another word forum, a post by "arnie" from London that I think explains the whole problem rather well:
Irony is a form of expression in which an intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning of the words used. So if I were to yell "Nice driving!" at another driver who had just forced me to brake sharply, I'd be using irony.
Sarcasm is intended to wound or hurt another; it is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule. If I were to nominate GW Bush for the Nobel Peace Prize I'd be using sarcasm.
There is often a fine line between irony and sarcasm: the difference is that sarcasm is used with intent to wound.
The English use irony very often when making humorous remarks, and this sometimes causes friction in their dealings with Americans, who mistake the irony for sarcasm.
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Carpal Tunnel
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are you being facetious? 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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There we go again, separated by a common tongue.
When an USn yells, "Nice driving!" at a poor driver, he is intending to wound or hurt the poor driver. If he were to nominate GW Bush for the Nobel Peace Prize he would be using language in the opposite of its literal meaning.
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and to make matters worse, arnie is prolly a USn expat, living in London.
incidentally, I always have read "USn" as yew-es-en (not us-en), which makes "an USn" look really wrong, to me.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I read USns Ewe-ess-ens, too.
We really must work on our delivery. If I caused someone to brake suddenly, and he yelled out with a warm smile and a twinkle in his eye [or the arched brow of the mycterismus], "Nice driving!" I would catch the irony in his statement and wouldn't feel wounded. However, were the same set of circumstances to occur, and he yelled out the window with a scowl on his face and perhaps a fist extended or some other such manual maneuver, "Nice driving!"--well, no matter how thickly British his accent might be, I'd take that as sarcasm.
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Carpal Tunnel
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The AHD etymology of sarcasm seems a bit peculiar to me:
sarcasm
SYLLABICATION: sar·casm
PRONUNCIATION: särkzm
NOUN: 1. A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound. 2. A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule. 3. The use of sarcasm. See synonyms at wit1.
ETYMOLOGY: Late Latin sarcasmus, from Greek sarkasmos, from sarkazein, to bite the lips in rage, from sarx, sark-, flesh.
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Odd, wwh. I had some flimsy memory of sarcasm having to do with the tearing of flesh. I must be remembering incorrectly the derivation of another word. I wonder what it could have been?
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Irony is a form of expression in which an intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning of the words used.
Yet, there's *nothing worse than mistaking sarcasm for irony.
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... is a Faldaggian take-off on 'usns', a Southern US variant of the first-person plural objective pronoun.
-ronnette not-so-obvious
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he yelled out with a warm smile and ... the arched brow of the mycterismus
Ah, yes, the mycterismus. A close cousin of the paralipsis ... of which the most famous example is Mark Anthony's oration over the body of Caesar.
"We come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. ... When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff."
And, in the same oration, the most famous example of irony [I submit]:
"O masters, if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men"
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