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| I had to post the picture so you'd know its not as dorky looking as it sounds. |
Before an early morning run recently, Emry picked up the safety glasses and tried to put them on. Unfortunately, she poked herself in the eye with one of the ends of the glasses. "How ironic," I thought, "She poked herself in the eye with something that is meant to protect against eye injuries." That thought stuck with me as I walked out the door, and during my run I came to this conclusion: Nobody knows how to correctly use the word irony...
i·ro·ny
i·ro·ny
1. the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning
I'm not saying I use these terms correctly all the time, and I don't claim to be good at English. I just thought I'd share a random thought I had during my run the other morning. I'm also not trying to be a snooty blogger who points out everything wrong with the world and offers no solutions to the problems. My intention for this post was to clarify how to use the word correctly. Unfortunately, all I've really done is complain about how not to use it. Hopefully my rambling thoughts haven't left anyone more confused about what irony means...that would be pretty ironic. Don't you think?
2. an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected
These are two definitions for irony listed on dictionary.com. There were other definitions, but I only listed these because they apply to normal everyday conversations. We hear people say all the time, "That was so ironic." But was it really?
The biggest misuse I hear is when people use the word "ironic" when they mean "coincidence." A lot of times someone will tell a story like, "I ran into my buddy Dave at church today. It was so ironic because I was just talking about him this morning!" It was actually just a coincidence, just dumb-luck. Nothing opposite or contrary to what was expected happened in this scenario.
We hear irony used in pop culture all the time on TV, in movies and in news articles. And who could forget the Alanis Morssette song "Ironic"? Even the professional writers who produce this stuff don't properly use the term. So if the professionals are not using it properly, how can we be expected to know how to use it correctly?
I just read an article recently about Knowshon Moreno getting pulled over for a DUI. The headline said "Most Ironic DUI Ever." The article claimed the irony was that his vanity license plate read "SAUCED." To me this is a funny situation, but to be ironic, shouldn't the plate have said "SOBER"? (I will not add to the epidemic by mentioning how "ironic" it was that he was on my fantasy football team this year. And no, I wasn't sauced when I drafted him in the 8th round, but maybe I'll start using that as my excuse for making such a poor pick.)
Even Alanis's song, "Ironic," that we all jammed to in junior high was full of un-ironic scenarios: "Traffic jam, when you're already late." "Its like rain on your wedding day." "Its like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife." These are all unfortunate or coincidental situations, but there is nothing ironic about them. Something needs to happen in each scenario that is opposite than the expected outcome. Maybe the title of the song itself is supposed to be the irony...its a song titled "Ironic" that doesn't contain real irony in most of the lyrics. I don't know if that makes it ironic though...
These are two definitions for irony listed on dictionary.com. There were other definitions, but I only listed these because they apply to normal everyday conversations. We hear people say all the time, "That was so ironic." But was it really?
The biggest misuse I hear is when people use the word "ironic" when they mean "coincidence." A lot of times someone will tell a story like, "I ran into my buddy Dave at church today. It was so ironic because I was just talking about him this morning!" It was actually just a coincidence, just dumb-luck. Nothing opposite or contrary to what was expected happened in this scenario.
We hear irony used in pop culture all the time on TV, in movies and in news articles. And who could forget the Alanis Morssette song "Ironic"? Even the professional writers who produce this stuff don't properly use the term. So if the professionals are not using it properly, how can we be expected to know how to use it correctly?
I just read an article recently about Knowshon Moreno getting pulled over for a DUI. The headline said "Most Ironic DUI Ever." The article claimed the irony was that his vanity license plate read "SAUCED." To me this is a funny situation, but to be ironic, shouldn't the plate have said "SOBER"? (I will not add to the epidemic by mentioning how "ironic" it was that he was on my fantasy football team this year. And no, I wasn't sauced when I drafted him in the 8th round, but maybe I'll start using that as my excuse for making such a poor pick.)
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| If she's driving in Denver, she might be checking the rear view for sauced NFL drivers... |
Even Alanis's song, "Ironic," that we all jammed to in junior high was full of un-ironic scenarios: "Traffic jam, when you're already late." "Its like rain on your wedding day." "Its like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife." These are all unfortunate or coincidental situations, but there is nothing ironic about them. Something needs to happen in each scenario that is opposite than the expected outcome. Maybe the title of the song itself is supposed to be the irony...its a song titled "Ironic" that doesn't contain real irony in most of the lyrics. I don't know if that makes it ironic though...
I'm not saying I use these terms correctly all the time, and I don't claim to be good at English. I just thought I'd share a random thought I had during my run the other morning. I'm also not trying to be a snooty blogger who points out everything wrong with the world and offers no solutions to the problems. My intention for this post was to clarify how to use the word correctly. Unfortunately, all I've really done is complain about how not to use it. Hopefully my rambling thoughts haven't left anyone more confused about what irony means...that would be pretty ironic. Don't you think?
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