Ironic by name...

[Holdfast]

... anti-knife campaigner DJ Ironik has been stabbed by muggers...

OK, so technically it's not exactly irony, but does fit the common usage of the term. Or, as I prefer to call it, the Morissette Definition.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I'll call that ironic.

 

[Holdfast]

Most people would. I would.

But there are pedants out there who would argue that situational irony isn't really irony (you know who you are... )

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Those who don't find it ironic can go get stabbed.

 

[WillsBabe]

Or, as I prefer to call it, the Morissette Definition.

Don't hear it much any more, but when that song was out I had to turn off the car radio every time it came on for that reason.

 

[Marten]

... anti-knife campaigner DJ Ironik has been stabbed by muggers...

OK, so technically it's not exactly irony, but does fit the common usage of the term. Or, as I prefer to call it, the Morissette Definition.

Ironic would be if he was the robber.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Exactly. True irony is when the happening is the exact opposite of what one would expect. In this story the guy is, if anything, even *more* anti-knife.

 

[Deckerd]

Hence Holdfast called it the Morissette definition. Otherwise known as 'ugh don't you hate it when that happens?' or 'something that isn't irony but who cares?'

 

[Pingfah]

Most people would. I would.

But there are pedants out there who would argue that situational irony isn't really irony (you know who you are... )

This doesn't fit the Morissette definition though, this actually is a situational irony, an anti-knife campaigner gets stabbed. But most of Morissette's examples didn't even fit the basic definition of situational irony and were just examples of poor luck or stupidity.

The issue with Morissette wasn't that situational irony isn't real irony, it's that her lyrics weren't ironic, situational or otherwise.

 

[Deckerd]

I remember some serious blokes on Radio 4 discussing how 'rain on your wedding day' could ever be ironic and they came up with the scenario that the groom was a meteorologist who had predicted a fine, sunny day.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I thought that when knife and anti-knife come in contact, they would annihilate each other. That would be ironic.

 

[Mary Ann]

I remember some serious blokes on Radio 4 discussing how 'rain on your wedding day' could ever be ironic and they came up with the scenario that the groom was a meteorologist who had predicted a fine, sunny day.

Some serious blokes have a bit too much time on their hands.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Those who don't find it ironic can go get stabbed.

 

[Canadave]

I remember some serious blokes on Radio 4 discussing how 'rain on your wedding day' could ever be ironic and they came up with the scenario that the groom was a meteorologist who had predicted a fine, sunny day.

There's a comedian who does a bit about the song as well, and he came up with a great way to make "getting stuck in traffic when you're already late" ironic:

If you're a traffic planner on your way to a conference in your city, in which you are delivering a keynote address on how you improved the efficiency of traffic flow in the city.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Ed Byrne, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT1TVSTkAXg

 

[Goliath]

Exactly. True irony is when the happening is the exact opposite of what one would expect. In this story the guy is, if anything, even *more* anti-knife.

Irony isn't always the exact opposite of what one would expect. Though, generally, the greater the gap between expectation and outcome, the greater the irony.

For example: Oklahomans recently voted to amend their state's constitution to ban Sharia law; but by doing so, they may also have banned the Ten Commandments. That's not the exact opposite of what was intended--but it's certainly ironic.

 

[scotpens]

Remember the actress Carol Wayne, probably best known as the Matinee Lady on Johnny Carson's "Tea Time Movie" skits? She died by drowning. That was ironic.