# Why dont Americans get irony? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 23, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774 "2003-06-23T15:21:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/21 "2003-06-23T18:21:35Z")
Could the OP give us a few examples of successful, gut-busting British irony? (Since no one seems to agree on what is “ironic”.) As a related aside: in my personal dealings with Brits, I have noticed a completely different comic delivery style from what we have in the U.S. Namely, here, if someone is making an ironic/sarcastic comment, they usually accompany it with some sort of telltale facial expression, tone of voice, or other expression to let you know that they’re telling a joke, and not being serious. Brits, on the other hand, tend to remain completely deadpan for their delivery–so often, the Americans don’t know that the Brit was telling a joke, and consequently thought the Brit was (a) confusing (b) unfunny or © a raging a–hole. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/22 "2003-06-23T18:28:34Z")
I’m an American and I can’t get irony. Maybe I need a Sarcasm-Meter. ---
**Author:** ![Padmaraga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Padmaraga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padmaraga)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/23 "2003-06-23T18:39:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Padeye \* > \*\*The irony being that Daryl Hannah’s remark was a sarcastic one, not ironic. This is an all too common mistake and I would have hoped for better writing from Steve Martin. \*\* Daryl Hannah didn’t play the character C. D. Bales in Roxanne (the one who uttered the quoted line); Steve Martin did. Sorry, but that was bugging the snot outta me. BTW, I am an American (as in USA) and I do get irony. But Mr. Padma doesn’t (never mind, the only form of humor he gets is slapstick). ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/24 "2003-06-23T18:41:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ludovic \* > \*\*I’m an American and I can’t get irony. Maybe I need a Sarcasm-Meter. \*\* ohhhhhhh a sarcasm-meter, now there’s a really useful invention:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/25 "2003-06-23T18:53:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Padmaraga \* > \*\*Daryl Hannah didn’t play the character C. D. Bales in Roxanne (the one who uttered the quoted line); Steve Martin did. > > Sorry, but that was bugging the snot outta me.\*\* No, Daryl Hannah uttered the (unquoted) ironic line that Steve Martin is responding to. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/26 "2003-06-23T18:55:29Z")
It’s probably due to the oxegeny mines out west, and all the acid rain. We get mostly irony oxide, sort of a reddish-brown gritty humor. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/27 "2003-06-23T18:55:54Z")
I concur with what **toadspittle** said about American vs. British delivery. I’d add that when I was an exchange student in Spain, most of my American friends had precisely the same complaint about _Spanish_ people that Brits have about Americans; I suspect that the real problem is that Spaniards aren’t familiar with the facial expressions or inflection Americans typically use to communicate irony. ---
**Author:** ![Padmaraga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Padmaraga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padmaraga)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/28 "2003-06-23T18:57:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > \*\*No, Daryl Hannah uttered the (unquoted) ironic line that Steve Martin is responding to. \*\* Um, \*no, \* C. D. Bales uttered the line in response to 2 men he encountered on the street who were giving him a hard time. ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/29 "2003-06-23T18:59:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Blackadder: Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is? > Baldrick: Yeah! It’s like goldy and bronzy, only it’s made of iron. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/30 "2003-06-23T19:02:06Z")
**Willass** ; quite a few of us do get irony. And enjoy it immensely. The people that don’t, welll…what can I say? Irony takes effort. It’s an acquired taste. You tell me. Laura Croft/Tombraider grossed through the roof. I left it in the middle of the damn film, tired of waiting for SOMETHING to happen. Dogma, a GREAT ironic comedy, was shunned & totally misunderstood. Mil Millington…I quote his stuff, and even started a thread. People posting from the US didn’t get him at all. Found it insulting. ITS A JOKE!! FUNNY HAHA!! Sometimes we take the trait of honesty to extremes. You’re saying it. You must mean it. Why else would you say it? I think that may have a lot to do with it. That, and a lot of people are just to lazy to make the effort to understand it. Why read a book? The movie will be out soon if it’s good enough. Why enjoy a good satire, when physical comedy is so much easier? Besides, nobody got shot. It can’t be any good. ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/31 "2003-06-23T19:04:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aaslatten \* > \*\*Why do Brits have bad teeth? \*\* Because of the irony in the water. ---
**Author:** ![Padmaraga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Padmaraga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padmaraga)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/32 "2003-06-23T19:09:51Z")
> [@](#): > > [“Sweet Home Alabama” plays in background.] > Garland Greene: Define irony: a bunch of idiots dancing around on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash. Sorry - couldn’t resist. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/33 "2003-06-23T19:18:43Z")
So why don’t Americans get trouser pressy? (Yay, I claim the award for most inane contribution to this debate.) ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/34 "2003-06-23T19:23:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > \*\*No, Padeye, that’s a pun. it is not in the least ironic (at least, not in the sense we’re discussing here. \*\* No, I don’t think it’s a pun at all. Using harpy as a metaphorical description of his wife as a bird of prey isn’t using a different meaning of the same word or sound alike phrase which is a basis of a pun. “A bun is the lowest form of wheat” is a pun. Well maybe a meta-pun. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/35 "2003-06-23T19:53:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Alanis Morissettes song ‘Ironic’ is riddled with non-ironies: Black fly in your chardonay - thats just bad luck! And my own personal experience has led me to beleive that a much higher proportion of Americans dont get irony than their European counterparts…can anyone explain? Trust me when I say that _everybody in America knows about the inaccuracies in that song_. It was major stand-up comedy fodder for several years. We know, OK? Popular American humor MIGHT - and I stress MIGHT - be less ironic than popular European humor, but there’s lots of ironic humor to be found. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/36 "2003-06-23T20:01:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Padeye \* > \*\*No, I don’t think it’s a pun at all. Using harpy as a metaphorical description of his wife as a bird of prey isn’t using a different meaning of the same word or sound alike phrase which is a basis of a pun. \*\* It’s a lot more pun than irony. Your joke is playing off the word harpy, simultaneously using the slang version for a nasty woman while at the same time evoking the classical version of its appearance. Pretty pun-like to me. Whatever it is, it’s not ironic. ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/37 "2003-06-23T22:24:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ludovic \* > \*\*I’m an American and I can’t get irony. Maybe I need a Sarcasm-Meter. \*\* Me either. I keep wiggling the antennas on my Sarcasm-Meter but the reception just won’t come through. Oh well. .:Nichol:. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/38 "2003-06-23T22:37:46Z")
Oh, a _Sarcasm Detector_! That’s a _ **real** _ useful invention! ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/39 "2003-06-23T22:47:17Z")
I think irony would be buying a car rated highest by Consumer Reports in terms of safety features and then dying after crashing into an Edsel, while the driver of that car walks away without a scratch or dent. Maybe not funny, though. I guess it depends on which car you were in. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774/40 "2003-06-23T22:51:36Z")
You assume Americans do not get irony, and in attempting to verify this assumption, your first impulse is to post this potshot on a board that is comprised mostly of Americans? Ironic, isn’t it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-americans-get-irony/183774.md?page=3)