The link between irony and sarcasm has been much debated and yet there is still little consensus on how the two connect at a theoretical level, as Attardo (2000: 795) notes “there is no consensus on whether irony and sarcasm are essentially the same thing […] or if they differ significantly”. The goal of this article is to take a user-perspective and report on how participants in everyday conversations in the UK and Italy talk about irony and sarcasm and what kinds of authentic behaviors are described employing these labels. These findings are debated with reference to the academic concepts of irony and sarcasm to explore how the lay and academic perspectives linked up.