Isn't It Ironic? 683
gessel writes "Have you ever used the word "ironic?" Do you know what it really means? If not, is that ironic? Was Seinfeld's "irony" really the cause of the utter collapse of civil society as we knew it? How ironic was it for the CEO of MTV to declare irony a victim of 9/11? The Guardian is running a brilliant article that clears the confusion around a culturally critical and chronically misused word."
Oh, the irony... (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't it ironic?
Re:I find it rather ironic (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Oh the humanity....... (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh my god... (Score:5, Interesting)
If you think the story is crap, you are free to move on. But this being a discussion forum, and "Isn't it ironic..." being on of its favourite phrases, why shouldn't some of us be interested in reflecting the original (yeah, avoiding "correct" here...) usage of this term, and how it is most commonly used instead these days. After all, with some sensitivity for language subtilities you can be much wittier, impress girls, most important get more slashdot karma... (If you don't believe me, try making jokes in any than your first language -- I had to learn this the hard way when I first came to an English speaking country.)
So, is this at all ironic? (Score:5, Interesting)
About 300 "dot com" companies, which are mostly famous these days for losing tremendous amounts of money, have agreed to pay $1 Billion [nytimes.com] to settle a lawsuit claiming that they inflated their IPO prices.
I guess it's really sad, rather than ironic.
Of Slashdot won't post a story on this settlement, either because (1) it's not news for nerds [and a Guardian story about irony is??], or (2) one of the dot-coms is VA Software.
Re:South Park episode display classic irony (Score:1, Interesting)
Actually, they are saying that the tribes who build casinos are turning themselves into greedy soulless corporate scum.
It's amazing who successful Matt and Trey Parker have been at convincing people like you that they're hipster liberals, when they are actually hipster libertarian/conservatives.
poor alanis. (Score:4, Interesting)
I saw an interview on television where she said this, but I just don't know if I should believe her. She said this after the whole world said the title of the song was the only thing ironic about it. But she is a clever gal, and I know how frustrating it can be when no one gets your irony, so I chose to accept her statement despite my doubts.
BTW Never try an ironic arguement in a room full of christian's whose parents are in the military. They will believe you are serious when you say we should wipe out the Swedes because they are just too blond. There is no one there to see the absurdity of their arguement that they shouldn't be wiped out because while they are not Baptists or Presbiterians they are Lutherans and Lutherans are still Christians. (My father was Lutheran, my name is Lutheran, I'm Scandinavian, and I was wearing a "Make Love Not War" pin. High school just made me want to beat my head against blunt objects, at least it was only the intro courses in college where people thought Brave New World was a good prescription for how we should live our lives.)
Re:Oh my god... (Score:5, Interesting)
I remember reading a rant by C.S. Lewis describing this very thing. He was saddened by the way that the word "gentleman" had, over the years, been generalized to mean practically any human male. Previously, it had mostly been used to describe a certain segment of wealthy landowners. Lewis implied that this kind of thing was unfortunate, because there no longer remained in the English language a single word to describe a "wealthy landowner" in the way that "gentleman" used to. But there were already plenty of words to describe a "human male".
Take the word "artist" as another example. Certianly, people 50 years ago would have just laughed in your face if you called someone like Britney Spears an "artist". We already had a proper word (or phrase) for describing her kind: "(amateur) musician". "Artist" had a much narrower and more prestigious implication. Now it's used for anyone who can strum a chord on a guitar or melt wax.
mtv's death of irony (Score:3, Interesting)
MTV's president didn't declare irony dead. Robert Thompson did on a Viacom program (which may or may not have appeard on MTV, it might have been VH1). I remember this because Rober Thompson is a media whore of the first order and anytime he pops up, I know the program using him was put together with a minimum of effort.
If you pay attention, you will see Thompson show up with eerie frequency any time a peice about the current culture is done. A quick Google news search for "robert Thompson" and Syracuse (the university at which he is employed) turns up 50 articles [google.com] with quotes from this guy.
All this guy must do is sit around and answer the phone all day.
Re:how extraordinary (Score:2, Interesting)
To offer a handy followup (simply a supplement to the previous poster's insightful comment that I think may be helpful), it is of course useful to note that sarcasm is, as stated in the OED:
Thus, contrary to what seems to be popular belief, it strictly has nothing to do with implying a meaning different or opposite from what is said. Of course, it just seems so much more effective when presented in an ironic context.
In fact, I think it is kind of ironic that saying "I love my boss" more effectively conveys the sentiment of "I hate my boss" than the latter. (Note that both could be considered "sarcastic", but only the first would be ironic. Unless of course, you actually do love your boss, in which case the the second would be ironic, but neither would be sarcastic, since you presumably don't have anything to be bitter about.)
Re:South Park episode display classic irony (Score:2, Interesting)
Just 'cause someone drinks, smokes pot, takes acid, shrooms, or rolls X doesn't mean that they're not conservative, so don't try me, spun. Your low account number doesn't scare me!
I happen to know on good authority that they support President Bush for re-election. Somehow I doubt you agree with them on that.
WAY OFF TOPIC (Score:1, Interesting)
Always confused by the way americans use the term (Score:1, Interesting)
Not only one thing she sings about is ironic.
Ironic is when I cry "wooo shiiit" meaning the perfect opposite, e.g. "wooo great!" "WONDERFUL" or similar.
The definition given here (as somebody else pointed out) is pretty fine: click [reference.com].
Why that IS ironic (Score:3, Interesting)
The IRONY here is that, after the retiring, he *was* injured by a racecar, in less likely circumstances. That is situational irony.
Now, a very technical linguist might argue that there is assumed risk by simply being at the raceway, and what we're hearing is a tale of bad luck that might be humorous, but I'd refute that irony doesn't require the observer to take into account details. It's not a thesis, it's an outcome contrary to evidence that leads us in an exepcted direction.
What would make the situation more accetably ironic is if the ambulance, travelling at regular speeds on the way to the hospital, got into an accident and killed him.