If sarcasm is your only setting, ask yourself what you’re protecting.

Sarcasm is useful and funny and also an excellent place to hide. Said sideways, nothing can be held against you: not the compliment, not the complaint, not the wanting. If it is the only register you have, the people around you never quite get a straight signal, and over time they stop trying to find one. The armour works, which is the problem.

Say one thing plainly this week that you would normally say sideways. That you are annoyed, or grateful, or interested. Pick a person who has earned it, and let the sentence stand without a joke on the end.