Struggling to understand the difference between irony and unfortunate events. My partner is quite smart and I don’t want to make a fool of myself.
EDIT – Thanks everyone, your responses have really helped. Hopefully I’ll be less likely to make a fool of myself describing something as ironic, in the future.
In: 3
Best to learn by example:
You plan a road trip and as you leave you realize you’ve forgotten something important and have to go back for it. Then you get a flat tyre, your friend gets carsick, the car eventually breaks down. You then say “what a fantastic trip”!
It’s because it’s the opposite of the expected response – so everyone knows you’re just being ironic.
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Irony is a figure of speech that involves using words to express something different from, or opposite to, their literal meaning. There are several different types of irony, including verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony.
Verbal irony occurs when a person says one thing but means the opposite. For example, if someone says “Great, just what I always wanted,” in response to receiving a gift they don’t like, that would be an example of verbal irony.
Situational irony occurs when the outcome of a situation is the opposite of what was expected. For example, if a fire station burns down, that would be an example of situational irony.
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or reader knows something that the characters in a story do not. For example, if a character says “I’m so happy” while the audience knows that they are about to be betrayed, that would be an example of dramatic irony.
In general, irony is used to create humor or to make a point. It is not the same as an unfortunate event, which is something that happens by chance and is not intended to be humorous or to make a point.
One other pointer: don’t use it as a synonym for coincidence. “Take on Me played in the grocery store right after we talked about it on the drive over” is a coincidence, not ironic.
Also, I see people saying “that is sarcasm not irony” – sarcasm is a form of irony.
There are multiple meanings of irony.
There is the sarcastic meaning, where you say the opposite of what you mean, usually to be funny. Example: Someone doesn’t react to some piece of good news and you say “Don’t get too excited”.
There is the outcome that is different than the one intended. Example: You decide to start exercising to improve your health and then suffer a heart attack the first time you go for a run.
Then there is the literary technique where the audience fully understands the significance of something the protagonist says or does, but the protagonist themselves does not. Example: Someone on the Titanic sees the iceberg and says “It’s so beautiful I could die”.
I feel like a lot of people here are describing sarcasm as if it’s synonymous with irony, but it isn’t. In some cases, it can even mean something more like hypocritical.
Ex.: It is ironic when Person A, who would be nicely described as a bigot, tries to lecture someone else about their bigotry. It’s like the point Person A is trying to make, is flying directly over Person A’s head, because they’re busy making it to Person B and can’t see how well it applies to themself. Person A isn’t sarcastic – They’re just unwilling to reflect on themselves the same way they judge others. That’s ironic.
A situation is ironic not because it can be spoken of sarcastically, but because there is an outside perspective observing the events who has insider knowledge that lets them know the situation is not quite as straightforward as it seems. To that outside perspective, the situation is ironic, but less so to those who are in the moment who may not realize the irony.
A lot of people here miss the mark for genuine, common irony. Sarcasm can be used as irony and can have ironic moments, but it’s not the main or general use. It’s hard to put in words, but with examples it makes sense. Bo Burnham has an entire song about ironic moments.
A water park has burnt to the ground – water is used to put out fires, so a place full of water being on fire is ironic – it’s contrary to what you’d expect.
A tow truck breaking down – Tow trucks are used to help cars who have broken down. If the truck itself breaks down, that’s ironic as it’s meant to be the solution, and not the problem.
And Monopoly has far from a stranglehold on the board game market – Monopoly means “to own all / the majority”, so a game being called monopoly not having anywhere close to owning all or the majority of board games sales is ironic, the name goes against the meaning.
Irony is writing a whole song about irony but getting the meaning wrong.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc
(All her examples in the song are coincidences rather than irony)
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Imagine being afraid of flying, and using comfort music during the flight.
Now, it would be pretty ironic if the comfort music was a band that died during an airplane crash…
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