Share your irony

[Cort Haus]

Ironing pants is very sad - unless you're in one of those parts of the world that calls trousers 'pants', in which case you probably own a trouser-press, which you presumably call a 'pant-press'. Hmm.

[Blake]

I hear that Norwegian doesn't precisely have a word for "Wearing" so you can't exactly say "I'm not wearing any pants" in Norwegian. It's more like "I have no pants" or perhaps "I have no pants on me" which to me doesn't quite communicate the same message.

That's Ironic! At least using the Alanirony definition of "How disappointing", because I wanted to know how to say "I'm not wearing any pants" in Norwegian then go to Norway and talk to random Norwegians and sound like a tourist with a comically poor grasp of the language (which ironically, would be true) yet whom insists on speaking it in spite of half the population knowing english as a primary or second language, how ironic.

[Zevico]

One wonders if a thread on irony is 'Godwised' by comments about the apparent lack of irony in Alanis Morissette's music.

[Kuciwalker]

I'm sleepy.

[C0ckney]

Re: Share your irony

Originally posted by Dauphin
I bought some scissors today. The packaging on them was designed such that the only reasonable way to open it was to use a pair of scissors.

that's pretty good.

some of what follows

[Blake]

Re: Re: Share your irony

Originally posted by C0ckney


that's pretty good.

some of what follows

Someone disappointed by the lack of irony in an irony thread.

[Provost Harrison]

It's like meeting the man of your dreams, and his beautiful lice...

[Spec]

Dont let your worries kill you, let the church help.

Spec.

[Alinestra Covelia]

It seems like a fair number of Morissette's examples, although not pure irony per se, could fall under the "Dramatic Irony" definition. (Which seems to be closer to the present day use of the word.)

Dramatic irony has its roots in Greek tragedy, where a character's speech or activity is heartfelt, but which the audience understands to be contradicted by actual events. Usually the events are beyond that character's knowledge. (Oedipus is a good example - in trying to avoid his destiny of killing his father, he escapes from his adoptive parents and ends up killing a complete stranger who turns out to be his biological father.)

If you remove the strictly theatrical setting of that definition, and apply it to life in general (which may, theologically speaking, require a bit of faith that there is a different "audience" that's aware of things you're not aware of, whether it be God or just incredibly nosy friends ) then some of the song's lyrics could well apply.

Things like a husband thinking his faithful wife is cheating on him, and his own overprotective behavior towards her actually causes her to resent him and then cheat on him.

I'm not sure whether this has some overlap with "self fulfilling prophecies". Presumably this would require some degree of desire to avoid the self fulfilling prophecy though. (If the self fulfilling prophecy is actually desirable, then I'm not sure that counts as irony unless the main actor genuinely was unaware of it and ends up happily as a result.)

[Alinestra Covelia]

And here's an example of a real-life irony:

I wanted a law journal certain job really badly. It didn't pay but it was supposedly fun and prestigious and good for resumes.

I did the heavy pre-application work project, which took me two weeks. I was not selected, most of my friends were.

Later they told me that I dodged a bullet. The work was awful, the hours were terrible, and the purported resume and networking opportunities were imaginary. It was basically slave labor.

I felt better.

...

My professor employer owed a journal a favor, and so he put me to work for that journal. I finally got some real journal work, which did indeed genuinely suck but at least I got it on my resume.

Of course by that time the sheen had worn off and I was more cynically minded. But objectively I was doing less work, I was making more money (i.e. any at all), and I still got to put it on my resume.

I think if some omniscient audience was watching, it might consider it to be dramatic irony.

[rah]

One night after extra hours at work, a cute co-worker heading out missed the last bus and would have to walk home from the train station. Even though I wasn't dating her I thought that If I ever wanted too, it would be easier if she thought I was a nice guy, so I offered to drive her home instead of letting her take the train and walk home in the dark. When we arrived at her house, her mother thought that I was the perfect gentleman for driving her home. I figured that if I ever did date her, at least her mother would approve. An investment in a possible future.

Six months later, we started dating. (She said the night I drove 40 miles out of my way to make sure she got home safe was what had originally brought me to her attention. It's nice when a good play works) After a few months I was invited over to her parents for dinner, and I readily agreed since I figured her mother already liked me.

While driving out to her house, she said that she had to tell me something. She said that for 3 months after I dropped her off the first time, her mother had constantly nagged her on why she wasn't dating the nice guy that had driven her home. After a few months, just to get her mother off her back, she told her that I, did drugs, lived in sin with a woman who I beat regularly, drank to excess, etc. etc. So instead of a warm parental welcome I was faced with the most hostile evening I would ever had.

[CrONoS]

1: Is that true?
2: Is that really true?
3: If it's true; what happened after?

[rah]

1. Yes
2. yes (you can't make up classics like this)

And the funniest part was her father didn't say a word during the entire meal but was giving me the "KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS" look. His daughter had been a virgin before we started dating, and for some reason, I think he knew that. I was the despoiler.

After dinner having a beer and more eons of silence he looked up and flatly said. "I HEAR YOU"RE CATHOLIC" and realized that he was English and not.

Fortunately we broke up about 6 months later and I was able to avoid any other lengthy meetings and they never became my in-laws.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by rah
After a few months, just to get her mother off her back, she told her that I, did drugs, lived in sin with a woman who I beat regularly, drank to excess, etc. etc.

What an evil bÃtch. Although only one of the four accusations is genuinely terrible.

[rah]

We weren't dating at the time so I really couldn't hold it against her. And she was quite cute, and a virgin.

And YES, except for the beatings and etc. etc. it was not that inacurate of a claim. I mean, come on, I had been out of school for less than a year. Not all that uncommon with all my contemporaries. (late 70's)