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#98807 03/15/03 08:08 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ewe-ess-ens

take-off on 'usns'


Y'all are both right. It was derived from the first person dative/accusative pronoun but used in the nominative. At the same time it was intended to refer to citizens of the USA. In its most proper usage it wasn't intended to be used by anyone other than USns, but once it escaped the tips of my fingers it became public domain and, like children, no longer under the creator's control.


#98808 03/17/03 05:39 AM
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FWIW, here's how I use the terms.

The definition I use for irony is "mocked by fate". Someone may well say something ironic, but never intentionally so. "Nice driving" would only be ironic if, in the process of shouting it and waving one's clenched fist, one crashed. I accept that many people use the -"Nice weather we're having" when it's raining- definition of irony but that is, to me, simply sarcasm with no intent to harm, if not merely a conversation-starter. I use sarcasm as "a form of expression in which an intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning of the words used". My usual intent is humour, not harm.

The incorrect use of the terms irony, ironic, and ironical (yes, I've heard it many times) is one of my pet hates.


#98809 03/18/03 11:19 AM
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Mike, your definition of irony in the first post in this thread was not quite right. If someone has a near accident, involving someone else, but manages to avoid the actual event by sheer luck or the intervention of some deity, and looks scared or sheepish afterwards, and you yell "Nice driving!", that's irony. If the driver nearly causes an accident and then acts as if nothing happened and you yell "Nice driving!", it could be irony or sarcasm, depending upon the tone of voice you say it in.

- Pfranz

#98810 03/18/03 11:29 AM
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sjm Offline
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>Mike, your definition of irony in the first post in this thread was not quite right.
'Cos I'm in the mood to pick a nit, I feel I ought to point out that the definition given in tsuwm's post was one he found elsewhere, so the phrase, "Mike your defintion of irony in the firstpost" is not strictly speaking 100% correct.


#98811 03/18/03 01:56 PM
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Nice nit-picking...you'll all have to guess at my tone of voice, ha ha ha


#98812 03/18/03 02:14 PM
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thanks sjm and jackie (I think); I probably should have said, in that first post, that I found something that exemplifies the whole problem. and 'arnie' claims to be from London, at that.
-joe (po-faced) tuesday

#98813 03/18/03 07:21 PM
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Well, something that USns have never shown a great deal of aptitude for, along with logical reasons for invading countries in the Middle East. Is there anything ironic about the putative invasion? "Nice disarmament, Saddam." Tone of voice v-e-e-e-e-e-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-y important.

- Pfranz

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