“Isn’t it Ironic?”

...well no, not really.  

Many words in the English language are understandably hard to define; Antidisestablishmentarianism *, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis* and Floccinaucinihilipilification,* are a couple obvious examples. But who would’ve thought that a concept as commonly used as irony would be so hard to define? Now that’s just ironic…or is it?

“I’ve always thought it was ironic that irony has nothing to do with metal.” –Comedian, Bobby Romano.

After being asked by an old employer, amongst many others, what I meant by irony I found myself struggling to define the concept that I used on a near daily basis. My definition of the illusive term usually ends up with a rendition of the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette that wouldn’t scrape past the audition round on ‘X-Factor’.

Come to think of it, (ironically) most examples used in that song aren’t actually ironic, just very, very unfortunate; although “Isn’t it unfortunate” probably wouldn’t have sold nearly as many albums…

So what exactly is irony? Well, apart from 10, 000 spoons when all you need is a knife, irony, as defined by Wikipedia, is:

“A rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions (from the Ancient Greek meaning feigned ignorance)…

…Ironic statements (verbal irony) typically imply a meaning in opposition to their literal meaning. A situation is often said to be ironic (situational irony) if the actions taken have an effect exactly opposite from what was intended.”

The concept is so ambiguous that there was even an irony (punctuation) mark proposed to show when someone is aiming to indicate irony in a sentence (see below):

There are a multitude of websites dedicated to the subject, so obviously I am not the only one slightly baffled by the idea of what irony actually means. A great one that I came across that I seriously recommend you check out is:  RIGHT HERE! (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/irony)

Irony itself can be used for many things, such as:

·        Being humorous

·        Extenuating a point

·        Annoying others

·        Adding drama to otherwise boring situations (and/or blog posts)

·        Confusing people

·        Feature article introductions

·        And much, much more…probably.

EXAMPLES OF THINGS THAT COULD ACTUALLY BE CONSIDERED IRONIC:

IN CONCLUSION, I hope that you’ve learned a little more about the absurd enigma that is irony and are now well equipped to go out into the world and use it confidently.

For me however, the more I have researched the concept the more confusing it has now become and that, that is ironic.

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*Antidisestablishmentarianism – “refers to a 19th century political movement that opposed the disestablishment of the Church of England as the state church of England.^”

*Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis - “medical term; lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs.”

*Floccinaucinihilipilification – “the act of estimating something as being worth so little as to be practically valueless, or the habit of doing so.”