Kind of like the way Christopher Reeve broke his neck riding a horse, while making a video about equestrian safety.
I’m glad others realize the lack of irony in Alanis’ song. I had also wondered if she was trying to be ironic by listing things that were NOT ironic. I decided she probably just misunderstands the word, although I do like the song. Maybe it should’ve been called “Bummer”.
I’ve seen examples of irony that I would instead call hypocrisy, such as a minister getting caught with a hooker, or an anti-drug crusader getting busted for heroin.
There’s also dramatic irony (which can also appear in other forms of literature than drama, incidentally), in which the audience/reader has access to important information hidden from the characters. For example, if, in a mystery, the audience knows who the murderer is, and then sees the same character in a friendly chat with the detective, that’s dramatic irony, because the detective (presumably) doesn’t know yet.
At least, that’s what my English teachers from seventh grade on up have been telling me.
How about (and I don’t know if this is right or not)…
Nancy Reagan appeared on a TV sit-com to give her “Just Say No” message… The sit-com was “Different Strokes”
Brian
I was going to move this thread, but it seems to have developed into definitions of irony. So I’ll leave it here for now.
For now.
But brittanica.com sez:
So we still don’t have consensus…
Dammit. I’ve looked at a kajillion websites that mention irony. There’s dramatic irony, verbal irony, situational irony, cosmic irony, literary irony, sarcasm. Some types of irony seem to be completely unrelated to other types of irony. In my mind, someone being sarcastic is a completely different type of event than a firehouse burning down. They shouldn’t both be considered irony.
No wonder Alanis was confused.
Well I think I have a perfect example at my website. An ewxample of irony or the misuse of, you can decide for yourself…
You’re a city planner on your way to a convention in your home city to boast about how you solved the traffic problems in your city, and you get caught in traffic. That’s irony.
…Ozymandias, by Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear –
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’