{"id":5998,"date":"2017-03-31T10:00:46","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T14:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=5998"},"modified":"2017-03-30T15:21:52","modified_gmt":"2017-03-30T19:21:52","slug":"understanding-irony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/understanding-irony\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Irony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u201cThe supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.\u201d Robert A. Heinlein<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-5999\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony-1006x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1006\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony-1006x1024.jpg 1006w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony-344x350.jpg 344w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony-768x782.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony.jpg 1977w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1006px) 100vw, 1006px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Understanding irony can be challenging. Explaining irony may be far more difficult. And yet, many people seem to recognize it when they see it. How ironic.<\/p>\n<p>Irony, in its simplest form may be defined as a situation in which the result is the opposite of what was intended. Consider this presidential moment:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Trump says &#039;we can&#039;t make mistakes&#039; then makes a mistake\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vYDqBmXdzuw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Irony\u2019s great role in society is to single out human follies and foibles, so that we may laugh at ourselves. One of the masters of irony in comedy is American comedian <strong>Steven Wright<\/strong>. Here are a few of his best observations:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI once drove into a gas station which had two signs in the window \u2013 SELF SERVE and HELP WANTED. I went in and hired myself.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI think it\u2019s wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019d kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cDo Lipton employees take coffee breaks?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWhat\u2019s another word for Thesaurus?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cYou can\u2019t have it all. Where would you put it?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In each instance, Wright took an ironic concept, such as employees at a tea company taking coffee breaks, and simply pointed out the silliness of it. Historically, this has been the job of society\u2019s jesters. They recognize the absurdity of everyday life, the things we say and do without realizing the inherent humor in our actions. Good comedians understand irony, and with a simple turn of phrase demonstrate a mastery of language. Consider this old joke by <strong>Woody Allen<\/strong>, in which two old people are overheard in a restaurant.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe food here is terrible. \u201c<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cYeah, and such small portions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Literary Irony<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Irony serves a very different purpose in literature, film, and theater. <strong>Dramatic irony <\/strong>occurs when a story plays out in which the reader, or an audience member, knows the potential consequences of the situation, but the characters do not. The great film director, <strong>Alfred Hitchcock<\/strong>, would build suspense by placing an unwitting character in peril, then stretch the moment so that the audience \u2013 unable to do anything but watch \u2013 squirmed nervously in their seats.<\/p>\n<p>Another example of this occurs when characters make an observation which the reader knows is ironic, but the character does not. <strong>Shakespeare<\/strong> was famous for this.\u00a0In <em>Julius Caesar<\/em>, the audience knows that Brutus is among the conspirators, but Caesar does not, when he says of his friend:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cYet Brutus says he was ambitious<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And Brutus is an honorable man.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There is also <strong>situational irony<\/strong>, in which the author establishes that the characters are aware of the ironical moment that is playing out. The characters (and narrator) may comment on what is transpiring, but the narrative must play itself out. A perfect example of this is found in <strong>Thornton Wilder\u2019s <\/strong>classic play, <em>Our Town<\/em>. The spirit of Emily Webb longs to relive the past, but the pain of knowing what is to come is too much for her to bear.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Irony vs. Sarcasm<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Some dictionaries will label irony and <strong>sarcasm<\/strong> as synonymous. While the distinction is slight, they are different. <em>Webster\u2019s New World College Dictionary<\/em>\u00a0calls sarcasm \u201ca taunting, sneering, cutting, or caustic remark; gibe or jeer, generally ironic.\u201d It is a comment which employs irony to make a negative point. Imagine two people greeting each other on a wind-swept rainy day, and one says, \u201cLovely day, isn\u2019t it?\u201d That\u2019s using irony for sarcastic means.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s interesting about sarcasm, and <strong>verbal irony <\/strong>in general, is that it doesn\u2019t work well on the printed page. It\u2019s often in the verbal delivery that sarcasm makes its point. Writers may sometimes use italics or bold print to put the emphasis on a word, hoping to drive home the point that this is sarcasm. \u201c<em>Lovely<\/em> day, isn\u2019t it?\u201d More often, though, an author is compelled to say that the statement was intended sarcastically. \u201cLovely day, isn\u2019t it?\u201d she said sarcastically.<\/p>\n<p>As I say, the intent of irony is to make a point which highlights the opposite of what is actually being said. It isn\u2019t easily defined, but you should be able to recognize it when it pops up. Be on your guard for it. Don\u2019t let the irony get lost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"344\" height=\"350\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony-344x350.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony-344x350.jpg 344w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony-768x782.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony-1006x1024.jpg 1006w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/irony.jpg 1977w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 344px) 100vw, 344px\" \/><p>\u201cThe supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.\u201d Robert A. Heinlein Understanding irony can be challenging. Explaining irony may be far more difficult. And yet, many people seem to recognize it when they see it. How ironic. Irony, in its simplest form may be defined as a situation in&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/understanding-irony\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":5999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,134956,135139],"tags":[2024,1124,10,13584,13],"class_list":["post-5998","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-english-grammar","category-english-language","tag-comedy","tag-irony","tag-literature","tag-sarcasm","tag-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5998"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6001,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998\/revisions\/6001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}