OT: Sarcasm and irony

[Grant Edwards]

On 2006-10-10, Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com> wrote:

>> probably point out that I am writing from Denmark and was thinking
>> specifically of a situation where a dane told me they were being
>> 'ironic' (when what they meant, obviously, was that they were being
>> ironical), when I asked what they meant by that they said "saying the
>> opposite of what I mean" I responded: "so, in other words, what you
>> mean by irony is 'sarcasm'" She responded "yes, that's what it means"

And she was pretty much right.  Sarcasm is by far the most
common form of irony.

> Well, my assertion about America clearly doesn't preclude to
> possibility of confusion on the part of the Danish too :-).
> You are right about the general degradation of the
> (understanding of the) meaning of irony.  People are just too
> damned sloppy with language nowadays.

Sarcasm is a form of irony.  Irony is when what is meant is
different from the obvious literal meaning of the statement.

>> She had a degree in communications.

Which may explain why she knew what irony was when so few
people seem to.

Like Alanis Morisette said about the song "Isn't it Ironic":
What's ironic about the song is that it doesn't actually
contain any irony.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  While I'm in
                                  at               LEVITTOWN I thought I'd
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