Scientists say sarcasm, sometimes referred to as the lowest form of wit, might be a useful tool in diagnosing a certain type of dementia.
The researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) say patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) or Pick's disease, have trouble reading emotions and are often unable to sense when someone is being sarcastic.
Being unable to pick up when caregivers are angry, sad or depressed, can be upsetting for those involved and sometimes makes managing such patients a difficult task.
Even though FTD is the second most common form of dementia in younger people (i.e. under 65) it is often misdiagnosed as a personality disorder or sufferers are dismissed as strange, and often ostracised because FTD can lead to sexual disinhibition, rudeness and a lack of empathy.
Experts estimate as many as 5,000 Australians suffer from the degenerative condition which many do not know they have - there is also the suspicion that FTD may be more common in those over 65 than is currently believed.
According to the UNSW researchers their study could be used to help provide an early diagnosis for the behavioural form of FTD and to help manage the condition and also be particularly useful in determining which patients will deteriorate rapidly.
According to the study's senior author Professor John Hodges, from the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, people with FTD become very gullible and often part with large amounts of money sometimes through gambling or because they trust other people more easily and lose judgement about their future.
The study helps explains that they behave the way they do because they are not able to pick up the subtleties of communication.
FTD is often very difficult to diagnose because people present with changes in personality and behaviour and Professor Hodges says care givers and relatives often report that people with the disease are generally humourless or without irony and he says comedy has to come into health care.