okay, so I brought up the idea of having an emoticon to signify ironic intent. so (as is my wont) I did a little research. the most common suggestions I found are ;-) and ;->

these are, disfortunately, ambiguous (combined with irony that could be deadly). 1) the standard is inclusively recommended for: Irony; Sardonic incredulity; So happy, s/he is crying; Flirt; Got beat up[?]; Flirtatious or sarcastic remark. 2) likewise, ;-> is used for: Cynical wink; Irony; Winky and devil combined (a very lewd remark was just made); Wicked grin.

delving further, I was told "If you use sarcasm or irony, make sure that your readers know it." ignoring any possible irony in this latter statement, it would seem that we need something definitive and disambiguous to denote irony. but foraging on I was warned "Irony, it seems, is like nitroglycerin: too tricky to be good for much, and so best left in the hands of fanatics or trained professionals."

never mind.

tsuwm suggests If you use sarcasm…make sure that your readers know it.

What then the need for sarchasm?

Here at the hospital we had a case of acute irony deafness last year. We learned that the patient had never been exposed to irony at a young age and thus had no defense against it. We prescribed a bolus of Dennis Miller followed by Jonathan Swift TID for 14 days. However, the local pharmacy in his hometown had no Swift, so they substituted Jeff Foxworthy, which proved insufficient. In fact, the patient developed a resistant strain of irony deafness, and we had to admit him to the hospital so he could watch reruns of "The Kids In the Hall" on cable television for 3 days. This also proved unsuccessfull, and we learned later that the patient had access to the remote control and had been flipping the channel back to "Hee-Haw" reruns on CMT. So we referred the patient to the Transplant Surgery team, and they performed a successful funny bone transplantation. The patient is now a movie reviewer for The Onion, and we regard this as one of our greatest medical achievements. ;|

>What then the need for sarchasm?

ah. another one of those "genuine new word"s (and a potentially useless one, at that) ;-\

p.s. - as suggested, I ignored any possible irony contained in "make sure that your readers know it" -ron obvious

do you use cadavers for the funny bones? or do you have to do extensive searching? how long is the transplant list wait? and if you use living doners, do you worry that there funny bone might be strained-- and damaged as they get older?

the whole thing is pretty nervey to me.. but i suppose a little elbow grease helps ease the way for the transplant...

For an irony icon, how about an iron? It's readily recognizable, and not in current use for anything else, unless there's a laundry message board somewhere.

" or an irony icon, how about an iron?"


A golf iron? What number?

And if the person misses the irony, then you award them a 4-wood icon for being so stiff.

For funny bone transplants, we prefer the humerus of an Englishman.

This is *way off subject, but I figured this was as good a place as any for my query, given the talk about transplants:

I heard a story on the radio just now about the horrors occurring in China on a regular basis, where prisoners' executions are purposefully botched in order to keep them alive while their organs are being harvested for sale, particularly their skin. It seemed to be somewhat of a 'breaking story' in the sense that a bill has been introduced here in the States to prevent federal funding from funnelled into some sort of program that essentially provides scholarships to young Chinese doctors that come here specifically to learn the intricacies of the transplant procedures, whereupon they return to China and commit these human rights violations. The story was fascinating in a horrifying (as opposed to terrifying) way, so I tried to look it up when I arrived home. I searched NPR, CNN and MSNBC, but gleaned (hi, BYB!) only old articles.

My question, then (yes, I'm finally coming to my point) is What news search sites do you folks favor?? Am I missing a good source/search engine for current events? This isn't the first time I've read or heard an interesting story and been unable to find further details online, so I suspect I'm simply using the wrong resources.

Sorry this doesn't have much to do with language, and thanks in advance for any help offered.

an emoticon to signify ironic intent

How about one of the smileys with one eyebrow raised?

I find http://www.google.com to be a fairly good search engine. I did a search for "chinese organ harvest prisoner" and found some links.

I find http://www.google.com to be a fairly good search engine

Thanks, Alex. I'm partial to Google as well, for general searches, but it seems as though the search results are based strictly on Boolean compatibility, with little regard to the date of the report. In this case, I entered similar keywords to those you indicated--and got several interesting articles, but none more recent than early 2000. I was particularly interested in the name and authors of the bill in question, so this wasn't quite what I had in mind.

I'm looking, more specifically, for a current-news-based search engine.

Hi Mandy,
Confronted with news of the type which you quoted, I should be extremely suspicious (If the story is about China, it is believed without question, this has been so since the 19th century). The fact that you could not find a source for confirmation heightens the suspicion that it is actually a slanderous ploy (with no intention to introduce that bill). The originator knows very well that the intended effect on the political climate is achieved even if a retraction is issued later. Early 2000 was at the height of the anti-Chinese surge in the US...
The a-historic character of the internet is another interesting point: you are probably in the minority if you look up the date of a "news" item..

Oh, there we have it in a nutshell: sarchasm graphically evokes the horror of irony for those who are lacking the corresponding gene.

Excellent points, wsieber. Thank you. I had been wishing that I had never read it, but now that I can think that perhaps it was propaganda, I feel better. When it comes to propaganda, I experience a sarchasm.

The lady Sparteye > For an irony icon, how about an iron? It's readily recognizable...

The gentleman wwh > A golf iron? What number?

Ahhhhh, Viva la differance!

The lady Sparteye > For an irony icon, how about an iron? It's readily recognizable...

The gentleman wwh > A golf iron? What number?

The wise old woman > Ahhhhh, Viva la differance!

The Fool > I had Sparteye's iron in mind from the moment she mentioned it. But, then, I'm not a gentleman; I'm one of the common folk.

Faldage > I'm one of the common folk.

One of Nature's Gentlemen I'm sure.

Faldage > I'm one of the common folk

I think you missed the flat iron! He's boasting about being humble

Whan Adam delvéd ond Eve span
Wha was then the gentil man?

     -- One of the True Commons

When I was a caddy I had a much appreciated toe mashie.

re China Organ Harvest
BBC had an article yesterday. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1411000/1411389.stm
That might give you some leads and other names to search on. I don't know of a specific general news site, I tend to search BBC and/or Times. Does any one know of an eqivalent of OneLookUp for news, which would search across the main news sites?
Rod

a much appreciated toe mashie

And could you iconize it with sufficient detail to distinguish it from, say, a potato mashie?

A ball in a bad lie "toe mashied" to a favorable lie was good for a more substantial tip.

Nature's Gentleman was a play on "Nature's Nobleman."
Could not find author's name but herewith the poem as recollected :

Nature's Nobleman.

Away with false fashion, so calm and so chill,
Where pleasure itself cannot please,
Away with cold breeding, that faithlessly still,
Affects to be quite at its ease;
For the deepest in feeling is highest in rank,
The freest is first in the band,
And nature's own nobleman, friendly and frank,
Is a man with his heart in his hand.

Fearless in honesty, gentle yet just,
He warmly can love and can hate,
Nor will he bow down with his face in the dust
To Fashion's intolerant state;
For best in good breeding, and highest in rank,
Though lowly or poor in the land,
Is nature's own nobleman, friendly and frank,
The man with his heart in his hand.

His fashion is passion, sincere and intense,
His impulse simple and true,
Yet tempered by judgment, and taught by good sense;
And cordial with me, and with you:
For the finest in manners, as highest in rank,
It is you! man! or you, man! who stand
Nature's own nobleman, friendly and frank,
A man with his heart in his hand!