Irony
Only a select few people in the world get irony. The rest think they do. And that's ironic. Possibly.
Just The Facts
- Most people simply do not get irony.
- If you don't believe us, check the comments.
- After reading this topic, most people will still not get irony
- But they'll think they will even more than before.
- Then they'll go out into the internet and disseminate even more false information about irony.
- We don't even know why we're doing this; we just get a kick out of it.
Cracked on Irony
Irony is the clash of opposites. It is the juxtaposition of what is expected against what happens; what you know and what you think you know.
It is not the same as coincidence. If a ginger person finds that the only drinks left at a party are cans of ginger beer and ginger ale, this is not ironic. If anything, this is the opposite of irony. If there is a convention of ginger hair haters and the only drink available is ginger beer or ginger ale, this may be considered ironic, but it's a long shot.
Nor is it bad luck. If a president is killed by someone accidently discharging their weapon, this is bad luck. If they are killed by someone discharging their weapon in celebration of that president being elected, that is ironic.
If something is appropriate, it is not ironic. If you see a grossly obese person tucking into a kebab, this is not ironic. It is exactly what you expect them to be doing. If you see a fat person deciding to give their heart a break for once and instead of going to KFC, they cross the road to get to the salad bar and are then run down by a truck transporting diet pills which, this is ironic.
If in doubt, just don't use it. It's better to stay quiet, because you're bound to get it wrong. And then your effort to look intelligent will only end up making you look like a bona fide simpleton. Aah, the irony.
Here, irony is perfectly summed up in the simple phrase "I'm not."
The Internet Is Wrong
The following are cases of the internet lying to you. None of these examples demonstrate irony, only that somebody is capable of being an idiot long enough to caption a poster.
I love this soooo much. The worst thing is when I correct people they still don't get it.
ReplyThis whole article is ironic! Har-de-ha-ha! But seriously, I've pretty much given up on using the word ironic, clearly I can't be trusted to use it correctly.
ReplyWow, me too! What a coincidence!
That coincidence is SO ironic!
Oh, wait.
This reminds me of how much I sympathize with my English teachers every year when 90% of the kids can't grasp the concept of irony.
ReplyI can understand how you could think most of those captions are ironic, but the one with the kid looking at the tits just baffles me. In what way could you even think that's ironic?
ReplySome people argue language is based on common usage. Therefore they argue that technically means if the majority thinks a word means something, that's what it means. I don't know if I agree, but who am I to argue with "some people"?
ReplyNo offence (Really because I don't think I've ever used Irony in the correct sense) but some people think a lot of stupid things like for instance clearly there was ounce a d*****t who ate Peanuts despite being allergic to nuts and now they have to put WARNING: MAY CONTAIN NUTS. Clearly he/she thought "Well it's nuts I'm allergic to, Peanuts I should be ok with!". My point being some people are stupid and should generally be ignored also the warning lable nut packages should really have should read "GO AHEAD: I DARE YOU"
My English teacher, who presumably has a f*****g degree, insists on describing everything we read as somehow ironic, as if that is the only way we will enjoy or see any merit in any of it. The irony, of course, is that he almost never uses it correctly, and the thing he describes is rarely ironic. Which brings me to my question: Is it ironic if you use irony incorrectly, or if you claim something to be ironic when it isn't? Does meta-irony exist, or am I just a hipster douchebag? Is the situation I described above even irony? WHAT THE f**k IS GOING ON?
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesYour teacher is clearly the hipster douchebag, since he apparently thinks that something is without merit if it isn't ironic and is insisting on justifying his appreciation of literature by saying it's ironic. I mean, isn't that basically the number one requirement of being a hipster douchebag? Also, I believe it could technically be considered ironic that he believes that something without irony is therefore without merit, but in fact doesn't understand the concept of irony. So no, you are not a hipster douchebag, and yes, it is ironic. You can rest in peace.
Then again, I could be talking out of my ass and have no understanding of irony as well. ISN'T THAT IRONIC??? *no*
I've met a lot of English teachers who sort of think like that, although to be fair irony is an extremely common literary device and is in reality, a bit more complex than how it's laid out here. Actually this only goes into verbal irony, without touching situational or dramatic irony, which work differently and having different rules, the fact that the writer is so uptight about people getting irony wrong when they themselves haven't really fully defined it would fall under dramatic irony, for example.
Your in an Irony-Paradox, the only way out is to kill yourself
Your example is ironic only because it's an English teacher doing it. One definition of irony is something alone the lines of "things going the exact opposite of what you'd expect." You'd expect the English teacher to be the person criticizing all these people using irony correctly rather then BEING a person using it incorrectly.
I second that, one of the best articles I've read on Cracked.
ReplyHow is Nina Simone misunderstood? Is it because of the holy man-voice of God?
Reply"I'm not." Sublime. Just sublime. Made up for all those piss-poor attempts at irony I had to suffer through.
Replyis it ironic that the pop song "Ironic" features no examples of irony?
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesMaybe the singer just thought Coincidental didn't have a good enough ring to it.
Congratulations, Poet-C. You're a hack comedian from the 90's.
My teacher actually brought this up in English class, lol.
IRONIC!#@
Wait...
How ironic...
Replyread part two, guys
ReplyOne of the best topics on Cracked.
Reply"Buildings that turn into robots" on the cart of misunderstood things...who wrote this? I kind of want to marry them.
Replywouldnt the last one be ironic if theyre drove the same karts to an arcade to play mariokart?
ReplyIt would be ironic if they love Mario Kart so much that they would drive the same karts all day to make the game come out earlier, but because they drove the same karts and are old men, the producer somehow got a glimpse of this and decided to cancel the making of the game.
That last demotivational isn't ironic, it's redundant. The irony is that we still call them demotivationals.
Reply Hide All See All 5 RepliesThat's probably why it's listed under "None of these examples demonstrate irony."
Jeez dude, you really are a dumbass, aren't you?
@StagePresence: There's no call for that.
@Extermidalek yes there is. Only a dumbass would think it ironic if we called them demotivationals. That would only be ironic if the poster motivated you. Or something. Barely.
Isn't it ironic that...ah f**k it.
"It's legal for some" is actually ironic. Why? The ones it's legal for are the ones that don't want it. The ones that want it can't have it. Irony. Opposite of what you'd expect. You can't have it if you're capable of wanting it.
Reply Hide All See All 6 RepliesDon`t want boobs? What, are you gay?
I have never met a male between the ages of 13 and 17 who didn't like boobs.
@MacDT: Exactly. Isn't legal
Nope still not irony. That kid was looking at the boobs like he wanted them. And your explanation still isn't irony.
@fgh actually his explanation is a great example of irony. But I agree that it doesn't apply to that picture because that kid is drooling
@Ferago Could you please explain how it's a great example of irony? No matter how I hard I try I still can't figure out how the f**k you came to that conclusion.
That's the fun thing about language: it doesn't matter what a word means, just how it is used. Words can change meaning, it's fun! A word that used to mean happy now means a guy who likes guys or, somewhat strangely less often, a girl who likes girls. Now I'm not saying I like this popular control of language, after all, a majority of people don't realize what they don't know (and the rest do). So, sadly, in a few decades, if attempts such as this fail, the dictionary people may have to reluctantly add a few more definitions to their irony entries, perhaps as slang definitions at first, but eventually as a full-fledged alternate meaning.
Replyhow ironic...
Hey guys, remember this? "I just pooped in you aquarium. Isn't that ironic?" Ha! That was great.
ReplyPlease remove it, the goldfish are beginning to small of Irony
Yeah Americans don't understand irony. The sentence: "You're a vegan and you're into Vampire Weekend? That is the least retarded ting I've heard all weekend." Is not ironic in the slightest. Eating meat and listening to muxis are not incongruous concepts or ones capable of subversive juxtaposition. Even if you were to wikipedia irony, you wouldn't understand it (not that the wikipedia entry isn't a great stab at explaining it, you guys really just don't seem to grasp the concept in action).
Reply Hide All See All 7 RepliesAmericans suck so hard at irony, that when you see a wonderfully ironic program such as the Office (UK version) you laugh enough to make you want to remake it, but you understood so little of why you laughed at the program that the remake contains absolutely no f*****g irony whatsoever, its just another dumb f*****g c**k joke fest. & you then laugh even more at it and somehow think you've improved on a formula.
The writer of this article has done well to realise that Americans simply don't get irony. But they were too stupid to realise that they fall within the definition of American, which makes the whole piece kinda ironic.
As a case in point, I challenge any American who thinks they understand irony to watch the paedophilia episode of 'Brass Eye'. If you watch that and are disgusted, you don't get irony. If you watch that end end up crying tears of laughter, well done you have just moved up on the evolutionary scale.
the vegan vampire thing is about not eating animals/animal products, but participating in something that alludes the consumption of people. Also the US office is still based on the unexpected happening in the office, it just focuses on situational rather than verbal irony; it is true that the UK version is better, but your lack of ability to identify irony fits with exatly what the author of this article had expected.
The irony in the comment regarding Vampire Weekend has nothing to do with the love of Vampire Weekend or being a vegan, but rather the speaker's insistence that "That is the least retarded thing I have heard all night!" The irony is not in the subject's interests, but in the speaker's response, which is the exact opposite of the words he used. In saying that it is not at all retarded, he is saying that it is ABSOLUTELY retarded. In this case, the irony is also sarcasm. But, still a form of irony.
But the construction of that example was a bit sloppy, so as to look like a terrible misapprehension of irony.
oh, you sorry racist. you think you understand irony!
I guess this guy's right...none of the 300,000,000 Americans understand irony. Not a single one. That language professor at Harvard? b***h, please.
The irony of your comment is that you blame every, single American ever for not understanding irony while you're clearly the dumb-ass.
Oh wait...is that irony? or not?
Irony is a fag. Get over it. Also, you don't get it either.