The Definition of Irony

[CyberGnu]

[Ramo]

I don't mind a little state authority.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin
A song called "Ironic" (you know the one) that lists several situations refered to as being ironic, yet not one of them was an example of irony.

Yup. Particularly the line "It's a death-row pardon two minutes too late".

I can really picture Derek Bentley's family saying "Oooh. That was a bit ironic". Can't you?

[OPD]

lol this sounds like an Ed Burns routine.

"Rain on your wedding day?..... no thats not ironic. Maybe if you're marrying a weatherman and you let him pick the day."

[CyberGnu]

Nah, still wouldn't be ironic. Only if your actions are intended to espace a certain outcome but isntead cause that very same outcome is a situation ironic.

Like taking a train because you are afraid of flying, but the train derails and you are killed... that would be ironic.

Or you fiercly advocate gunrights because 'you want to protect your family' and then you accidentally shoot your kid while cleaning the gun... That would be ironic.

[Thucydides]

Let's see, there the time I sold weed in the barracks after coming back from Amsterdam. The next day I find that my First Sergeant is trying to chapter me out of the army for lying to another private about what I had to do for extra duty, when in fact it was the other private who straight out lied to the first sergeant in the first place.

[CyberGnu]

Not ironic either. It would be ironic if you sold weed to pay for your moms operation, but when she found out you were selling weed she died of heartattack....

[Pekka]

Irony would be when the attackers of A-Zone would have fled in a car listening to disco and highfiving.

[Pekka]

In a pink getaway car.

Or when they got arrested, they'd be mollested by big guys from the same gang, turned into gay stuff in prison.

[Dr. Nick]

Irony is where Ironians come from. Right?

[Sikander]

A friend of mine had a birthday party at his house. This was in the summer in a college town on a Friday night. There was a jam session in the basement, and several good musicians showed up early while I was helping my friend set up his house. They did a sound check, and then started playing. They were actually quite hot and played for about two hours, up to the time when the guests started to arrive. Then they took a break.

Me and another friend were excited by the music, and went outside and started beating out a rythym on some trash cans. Pretty soon others joined us, and we had a happening found-object percussion jam. A lot more people started showing up, both those invited to the party and other people from the neighborhood or just passing by. By now I couldn't even see all of the percussionists, because there were probably at least 30-40 people dancing to our groovy beat, and a number who had begun to chant. At this point the police showed up and broke up the party. It was probably only 9 pm.

People formed into little groups and drifted away from the area where the police would arrest you. My group decided to head to an apartment complex nearby which had a swimming pool, to have a nice swim and cool off. There were about 15-20 of us, and we invaded the apartment complex and hit the pool. No one had swimsuits on, so we just stripped our clothes off and skinny-dipped. It was a lot of fun. As I was looking around to see who had made it from the erstwhile birthday bash I noticed that there was one girl in the group who in fact refused to take off her clothes and swim. Too bad she's shy I thought, she's missing a good time. Then I noticed that her attire consisted of a pair of shorts and a cheap tee-shirt with a press-on decal which stated exuberantly "Party Naked!".

[DaShi]

Originally posted by CyberGnu
Not ironic either. It would be ironic if you sold weed to pay for your moms operation, but when she found out you were selling weed she died of heartattack....

I get now. Someone has to die. Like when it is raining on your wedding day and a bunch of mobsters charge in and gun everyone down because the groom didn't pay off his gambling debts.

[CyberGnu]

Umm, not quite...

Only when your actions actually cause the very event they were supposed to prevent.

Like being so nervous about keeping the exact speed to avoid a ticket that you instead run a red light and get a ticket for that...

Or in the example you quoted, replace 'pay for your moms operation' with 'pay for a plane ticket to see your mom' and 'died of heartattack' with 'forbad you from ever visiting'.

Non-ironically, it is not even ironic that most of the examples in the thread 'definition of irony' aren't ironic either...

[chequita guevara]

Sikander! Perfect!

[DinoDoc]