OT: Sarcasm and irony

[Ant]

Brian van den Broek wrote:
...
> A quick check with the on-line text of the second edition of the
> Oxford English Dictionary (sadly, a link only available by
> subscription) gives as the first meaning:

If we're going to start using dictionary definitions, then I claim that
the following joke is truly ironic:

An old blacksmith relized he was soon going to quit working so hard. He
picked out a strong young man to become his apprentice. The old fellow
was crabby and exacting. "Don't ask me a lot of questions," he told the
boy. "Just do whatever I tell you to do." One day the old blacksmith
took an iron out of the forge and laid it on the anvil. "Get the hammer
over there," he said. "When I nod my head, hit it real good and hard."
Now the town is looking for a new blacksmith.

i‧ron‧ic  /aɪˈrɒnɪk/ Pronunciation[ahy-ron-ik]
–adjective
1.	containing or exemplifying irony: an ironic novel; an ironic remark.

i‧ron‧y2  /ˈaɪərni/ Pronunciation[ahy-er-nee]
–adjective
consisting of, containing, or resembling iron.

;-)

(In fact it is ironic in another more conventional sense:

i‧ro‧ny1  /ˈaɪrəni, ˈaɪər-/ Pronunciation[ahy-ruh-nee,
ahy-er-]
–noun, plural -nies.
...
5.	an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been,
expected. )