Why does it sound smart if you say the opposite of what you mean?

Question

Why does it sound smart if you say the opposite of what you mean?

Answer 1

Well, it doesn't always.  

Answer 2

You mean like sarcasm?

Answer 3

Are you talking about sarcasm? Well, it's kind of used in a situation to make the other person feel like they're an idiot. Example:

Tim: "Hey, I opened a can of peas and peas came out."

John: "(Sarcasm) Wow, I expected pine cones to pour out."

Tim: ":["

Answer 4

As you can see by the underwhelming agreement among your other respondents, the effect is far from automatic.  Not every possible contrast between words and meanings acts as an indication of intelligence.

Others have done enough to convince you that the relationship you postulate is nonexistent.  Instead, I'll do my best to answer the question you asked.

Verbal irony is difficult to execute properly.  Part of the effect you describe comes from the very fact of this difficulty.  We tend to associate verbal skill with general intelligence, and well-executed verbal irony displays a fairly high level of verbal skill.

Verbal irony requires the ability to recognize several distinct layers of meaning and context at one time.  This is another part of the effect you describe.  We tend to associate being able to hold competing or conflicting ideas in mind at once with thinking quickly, and thinking quickly is another heuristic measure of general intelligence.

Verbal irony often indicates an emotional distance.  For example, a usual response to an overwhelmingly positive experience is to simply and thoughtlessly say something like "wow".  If, instead, the response you hear is a contrasting "well, that was somewhat tolerable," then you can easily assume that there was no overwhelming emotion attached to the experience.  We tend to assume that the highly-intelligent are emotionally distant -- as if "hot brain, cool heart" were a statement of causality.

There may be other reasons, but these three came to mind immediately, and they should be sufficient to get you thinking along productive lines.

Needless to say, verbal irony is not required in order to "sound smart."    Unfortunately, I can't fit any examples of how else one might achieve the effect in the limited space provided here.  

Answer 5

It doesn't.

unless you have some type of OCD or other disorder.

Answer 6

  I am not trying to sound rude but if someone tells me something totally different than what is going on, I kind of think of them as a Dumb#%&, If you say the opposite of what you mean, most people will think that the person is clueless.