Society & Culture Irony

[Swans120]

Working on that interpretation (that one might not expect to live on a street that has something to do with facial hair), I suppose it does offer some sort of irony, but as you say it's pretty weak.

I agree with your first paragraph though. Worded that quite well.

 

[MCE]

No.

The thing about irony is that it's such a difficult concept to describe in a concise, accurate way it comes pretty close to undefinable. What I mean by that is that having a definition of it and then trying to see how a situation fits into that doesn't really always work. Often irony is also present but some people don't see it until it's worded the right way. When things are ironic you just kind of usually know.

Since people are keen to work on this 'expectation' definition, consider this. It's 'expected', that one isn't going to live on a street named something to do with facial hair, given that the vast majority of streets...well...aren't - right? So the fact that a male in his mid 20's who can barely grow any facial hair at all happens to live on a street named beard street is very, very mildly ironic.

Granted it's irony in just about its weakest form, but it's there.

Good post and I can kind of see your point. But does it make a mockery of the expected result - in this case being that this person wouldn't live on a facial hair named street. Maybe?

 

[Mattman93]

I don't think it matters tbh.

 

[Histrionics]

It's meeting the man of my dreams, and then meeting his beautiful wife.

lolwut

 

[Mattman93]

I was thinking, about that song, isn't it likely that the point of the song is that it's called 'ironic' yet fails to include a single example of irony, which then in itself is ironic? Or is she really just that dumb?

 

[HarryTiger]

It's meeting the man of my dreams, and then meeting his beautiful wife.

lolwut

 

[Mancey]

I was thinking, about that song, isn't it likely that the point of the song is that it's called 'ironic' yet fails to include a single example of irony, which then in itself is ironic? Or is she really just that dumb?

See first reply to op

Finally, not a single "example" of irony in the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette is actually ironic. However, by naming the song "Ironic" and listing all these examples of non-ironic things, it is possible that Morisette was being intentionally ironic, which would in fact make her a troll, and a very good one. This is, however, unlikely; to attribute such a motivation would be paying too much credit to an artist who has never before nor since demonstrated such awesomeness.

 

[Mattman93]

Hmm, fair enough, I probably shouldn't skim over so many posts...

 

[emuboy]

Is the below hypothetical situation an example of irony?

In two successive years, an AFL team finishes 8th with a 10-12 win/loss record and a percentage of 90, thanks to very even seasons in both years. The team however is no match for the 5th placed team, and their elimination finals result in 84 & 76 point humiliations, and much debate over whether the Final 8 rewards mediocrity. Realising it has to improve, the team recruits well in the off-season, and the next year has a 14-8 record and a percentage of 120. However, this season is quite uneven, and the side can only manage 9th on the ladder, missing the finals where in the last 2 years, this would have given them a double chance.

 

[Benno_900]

No.

The thing about irony is that it's such a difficult concept to describe in a concise, accurate way it comes pretty close to undefinable. What I mean by that is that having a definition of it and then trying to see how a situation fits into that doesn't really always work. Often irony is also present but some people don't see it until it's worded the right way. When things are ironic you just kind of usually know.

So the fact that it's difficult to define irony is ironic in itself?

 

[raskolnikov]

For example, if a soldier was to be sent to Iraq, survive a lot of contact with the enemy, come back home and immediately get hit by a bus, this would be somewhat ironic. The expectation associated with a soldier is that soldiers tend to die at war. However, he didn't die at war, he died at home after surviving war. This contradicts the expectation.

This actually happened to my dad's older brother. He fought in Vietnam and survived. The day after arriving back in Australia he was killed in a car accident.

 

[c00lcat]

Would be more ironic if he choked on a cup of tea and died or something.

 

[Doctor Feel]

He did however stick a model car up his arse and then go to a hospital to get scans for the lulz. So there is some ironing.

 

[Mancey]

Does one of the guys from Jackass who made a living out of doing stupidly dangerous stuff and surviving getting killed in a car crash count as irony?

Not really, he was drunk and speeding apparently so more business as usual/only a matter of time dealio.