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blubirde


Chanel

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Pet Peeve: Misuse of Irony
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Pet Peeve: Misuse of Irony.


Example: In salon yesterday and Girl #1 is washing my hair. Girl #2 is telling Girl #1 how the mailman got bit by a dog in her neighborhood. Girl #1 snickers/chuckles and says "ironic."


It possibly could have been ironic if the dog bit someone trying to take mail OUT of the mailbox, but even that would be a stretch.


Definition of irony:






      1. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
      2. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
      3. A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit1.



      1. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: “Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated” (Richard Kain).
      2. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.

    3. Dramatic irony.
    4. Socratic irony.

Oh, and I'm convinced Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" is indeed an example of irony because it's ironic that the song is titled "Ironic" and has absolutely nothing to do with irony. The more I listen to it, the more clever I think it is. I wonder if she meant it that way? (And the human folly illustrated in this example of irony? That we're dumb. 'Nuff said. )



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Marc Jacobs

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This bothers me too and it's such a widespread problem.

I think the use of ironic to describe "cool" kids adopting some traditionally uncool styles (e.g. "ironic mustache," "ironic mullet") is really out of control too. I can understand why that came into use because I guess it is incongruous (Supercool superstar Scarlett
Johansson has a mullet?! Clearly it must be an ironic mullet.) but it still bugs me.

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alb


Marc Jacobs

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ITA with you on this, and Alanis's song popped into my head immediately.  It always bugged me that many of the examples in the song are not irony (i.e. it's not ironic to not heed someone's good advice), but it never occurred to me that the true irony could be that the song is entitled "Ironic" yet there is no or almost no irony in the lyrics.  Very clever bluebirde, but my guess is that it wasn't intended that way (I could be wrong though)! 

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MissMee


Kate Spade

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I guess it would have been ironic had the mailman been the one who had previously been biting people or other dogs in the neighborhood!!

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kenzie


Chanel

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Haha...blubirde, I love your idea about "Ironic." Although, I doubt that she meant it that way, but who knows...

-- Edited by NylaBelle at 14:51, 2005-10-07

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blubirde


Chanel

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MissMee wrote:

I guess it would have been ironic had the mailman been the one who had previously been biting people or other dogs in the neighborhood!!

Right! Listen, if I can't spell a word right or know I'm using it in the correct context, I avoid it (if I know I'm using/spelling incorrectly but I suppose that's a whole other story).


And I'm all about pseudo-intellectual hipsters laughing sardonically about Kanye West and Bukowski, all in the same breath (at least they're trying however misguided they may be) but come on! If you don't get the 9th grade english version of irony, just stay out of it. I promise you won't lose "cool" points if you avoid the reference to ironic altogether.



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NCshopper


Hermes

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This post cracked me up.  I hate when people use terms when they don't know what they mean and I totally agree w/ you blubirde:  if you don't know what you're talking about, don't use the term/phrase/whatever. 



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Cortney1982


Chanel

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MissMee wrote:

I guess it would have been ironic had the mailman been the one who had previously been biting people or other dogs in the neighborhood!!

Exactly what I was thinking.  Just because cartoons show dogs chasing after the mailman thing doesn't mean that the mailman got bit by a dog is ironic!  Now if he was stealing mail from the neighborhood, or something just as bad, now that would be ironic!



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Deuce


Dooney & Bourke

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That is so ironic. I was just thinking the same thing today at work. haha I had to say it.


I absolutely hate this. On a side note I also hate it when people mispronounce nuclear. what exactly is nukular anyhow?



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rosie_the_riveter


Gucci

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Deuce wrote:

 what exactly is nukular anyhow?
You mean nukular isn't a word?? HeeHee Just kidding, I think

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