The Doctor, a master of sarcasm
- "Maybe all those command subroutines are compromising your medical abilities."
- "Maybe all that sarcasm is compromising your natural charm."
Sarcasm was a mode of expression, common among Humans and many other species, in which the speaker made a bitter jibe or taunting remark about someone or something. Sarcasm often involved irony to some extent.
Perhaps unusual for a hologram, The Doctor developed quite a knack for sarcasm, which his creator Lewis Zimmerman noted in 2276, commenting that he had not programmed The Doctor for sarcasm. (VOY: "Life Line") When the Voyager crew first made contact with the Qomar, The Doctor, annoyed with their patronizing mannerism delivered a sarcastic parody. (VOY: "Virtuoso"). In 2377, when a queasy Harry Kim criticized The Doctor, then in ECH mode, for neglecting his primary medical duties, suggesting that The Doctor's command subroutines might be compromising his medical abilities, The Doctor turned their conversation into a sarcastic repartee, as he drily remarked that all that sarcasm might be compromising Kim's natural charm. (VOY: "Workforce")