The thing is, academia really has decided that sarcastic people are the brainiest of them all. Harvard Business School researchers have apparently determined that sarcasm, especially when it has a sharp edge to it, represents the “highest form of intelligence.”

“The construction and interpretation of sarcasm lead to greater creativity because they activate abstract thinking,” the study’s authors write in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. (Bet that publication is a real page-turner. Sorry, we can’t help ourselves.)

“Just blurting out an insult is pedestrian at best,” information technology expert Vacheh Joakim told Psychology Today recently. “But a sarcastic jab that can masquerade as a compliment is much more enjoyable, and it also gives the person being sarcastic a sense of superiority.”