Is that really ironic, though? Just seems unfortunate.
Also, Alanis' song is the perfect example of irony because nothing within the song itself is actually ironic.
Explain "irony" to a 9 year old...
- Thread starter Middle Earther
- Start date
Also, Alanis' song is the perfect example of irony because nothing within the song itself is actually ironic.
He asked for help. You came into the topic, offered no useful advice relating to the subject matter, started bragging about how you mastered irony at age one (which is bullshit), and made a smartass comment about the intelligence of his kid and kids in general. Then you get irritated about him being nasty? Physician, heal thyself.
The intention of the firemen was to save the kitty, which they do, but in the end their own carelessness kills it, defeating the purpose of their original good intentions.
Consider it analogous to the ending of the Anakin/Padme storyline in "Revenge of the Sith" if you like.
Is your daughter a Trekkie? If so, tell her about the making of TWOK. Irony is when you know that Spock's going to die (because that fact had been leaked in 1982), showing Spock die in the Kobayashi Maru test (ah ah good one, you fooled us) and have Spock dying at the end anyway. That's dramatic irony.
Just don't ask Obi-Wan to explain who deals in absolutes.
There are basically two meanings of "irony." Don't give her the "sarcasm" one. "Irony" is much too classy of a word to also mean "sarcasm."
--Ted
--Ted
Irony is when the intended meaning is the opposite or the literal meaning. Irony is literary sarcasm. A child breaks their favorite toy and says, "Great!"
Hire you a horse? For ninepence? On Jewish New Year in the rain? A bare fortnight after the dreaded horse plague of old London Town? With the blacksmith's strike in its fifteenth week and the Dorset horse fetishists fair tomorrow?
*puts on English teacher hat*
"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry is a good literary example of irony. As too is "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs.
A simple definition for the literary term (I've been teaching them to my son so he's ready for higher lever thinking in the higher grades):
Irony - the opposite result from a desired action or the difference between what is said and what is understood.
*hangs up English teacher hat*
"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry is a good literary example of irony. As too is "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs.
A simple definition for the literary term (I've been teaching them to my son so he's ready for higher lever thinking in the higher grades):
Irony - the opposite result from a desired action or the difference between what is said and what is understood.
*hangs up English teacher hat*
This reminds me-- I know that Futurama episode was trying to make the point that people call things ironic when they really aren't. (Once I heard a sportscaster say something like "Ironically, Pittsburgh plays Cleveland in both the first week and the last week of the season." There's not anything ironic about that. In fact, it's barely even worth noting.) Certainly, misuse of the term to mean "strangely" or "interestingly" is common.
But Bender's definition doesn't sound right to me either. By that definition, the Gift of the Magi by O. Henry isn't about irony either. Where in that story do we see the characters use words to express something other than their literal intention?
It's their actions that are ironic-- the buy gifts for each other that prove to be useless because of what they each sold to pay for the gifts!
Am I misunderstanding here, or am I correct that the Futurama writers were being too picky in their definition of irony?
I was joking about the "age one" thing, not bragging.
Dictionary: "incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result".
You heard the weather forecast calling for rain later in the day, but you decide to leave your umbrella at home because you're catching a ride with someone and won't be outside for long.
Later, you're getting ready to head home, but you missed your ride and have to walk home. Then it starts to rain... how ironic that you left your umbrella at home (because you didn't anticipate that you'd be walking home).
You heard the weather forecast calling for rain later in the day, but you decide to leave your umbrella at home because you're catching a ride with someone and won't be outside for long.
Later, you're getting ready to head home, but you missed your ride and have to walk home. Then it starts to rain... how ironic that you left your umbrella at home (because you didn't anticipate that you'd be walking home).
Not really that ironic. Heck, not even unfortunate. More likely, the result of poor forward planning.
Walking to a repair shop to hand in a broken umbrella that won't open, only for the rain to start bucketing down as soon as you leave the house... that's a little more ironic perhaps, but not by much.
Driving quickly to a sports venue to avoid the rush, only to cause a major accident that holds up not only the other fellow fans on the road, but also the team bus carrying the players of the team you support? A good example of poor decision making quickly turning into pure irony.
Loving someone so much that you won't let them out of your sight, to the point that your interference and invasion of your loved one's private space ends up nearly destroying your relationship? There's a bittersweet irony in there too, of sorts...
Incidentally, I feel that the act of claiming that something is ironic (when that something clearly isn't) is ironic itself, isn't ironic - it's just meta-humour. Which in itself is ironic. Don't you think? [No it isn't - everyone]
You just blew my mind.
BTW belated thanks for the link. I like the examples he had - hilarious. The traffic planner one was my favorite!
Similar threads
