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I used this word on a recent post and I got to thinking. What is irony? I'm thinking I got the gist of it in my post but do I really?
It is a word that is often used in place of paradox or absurd and is tossed around with such ease that the meaning is completely lost.
I am familiar with it as a literary term but have never really grapsed its essence.
I've already found so many here that have an exquisite way of expressing thoughts with depth and clarity so why go anywhere else?
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Carpal Tunnel
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re:I am familiar with it as a literary term but have never really grapsed its essence.
Oh you must be american..
according to many on the other side of the pond, we americans (in general) don't get irony.
it seems one requirment to understanding is true blue british blood running in your veins, and allegence to the queen.
I don't get it.. oh well.
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so many here that have an exquisite way of expressing thoughts with depth and clarity so why go anywhere else [for the meaning of irony]?
Well, Aorto, none of us here have more depth or clarity than you do, so it would be ironic if you found more irony here than already exists here. :)
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"Well, Aorto, none of us here have more depth or clarity than you do, so it would be ironic if you found more irony here than already exists here."
And at that moment, he was enlightened.
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Carpal Tunnel
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"... true blue british blood running in your veins, and allegence to the queen...."
Some have blues coming and some have *them going.
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he was enlightened
He was enlightened, Aorto?
I have a bet on with themilum, you know. :)
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From Dr. Bill [wwh]:
'irony'. In the first place, there is no 'iron' in it.
irony
1502, from L. ironia, from Gk. eironeia, from eiron "dissembler," perhaps related to eirein "to speak" (see verb). Used in Gk. of affected ignorance, especially that of Socrates. For nuances of usage, see humor
And it need not 'bite the flesh' as sarcasm does.
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'irony'. In the first place, there is no 'iron' in it.
Made me laugh! Then I questioned: isn't that paradox? Still pretty funny. I think 'affected ignorance' gives me something good to go on. I'll keep digging.
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Dr. Bill [wwh] suggests making "a post, contrasting
meiosis and litotes with irony".
Not a bad idea, wwh.
And that's an understatement.
I'd like to juxtapose a few questions for you one of these days. Then I'd be posting your answers to the questions I'm posing. Would that be ironic? I suppose it would be if people got the right answer out of me for a change.
M-W: Main Entry: mei·o·sis
Pronunciation: mI-'O-s&s
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek meiOsis diminution, from meioun to diminish, from meiOn less; akin to Sanskrit mIyate he diminishes
1 : the presentation of a thing with underemphasis especially in order to achieve a greater effect : UNDERSTATEMENT
M-W: Main Entry: li·to·tes
Pronunciation: 'lI-t&-"tEz, 'li-, lI-'tO-"tEz
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural litotes
Etymology: Greek litotEs, from litos simple, perhaps from lit-, lis linen cloth
: understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary (as in "not a bad singer" or "not unhappy")
And, "while you're at it", says Dr. Bill, "give definition of meiosis in cell division and distinguish from mitosis".
Holy Mosis, Dr. Bill, you don't ask for much! :)
M-W: Main Entry: mi·to·sis
Pronunciation: mI-'tO-s&s
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural mi·to·ses /-"sEz/
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek mitos thread
1 : a process that takes place in the nucleus of a dividing cell, involves typically a series of steps consisting of prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase, and results in the formation of two new nuclei each having the same number of chromosomes as the parent nucleus -- compare MEIOSIS
M-W: Main Entry: mei·o·sis
Pronunciation: mI-'O-s&s
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek meiOsis diminution, from meioun to diminish, from meiOn less; akin to Sanskrit mIyate he diminishes
2 : the cellular process that results in the number of chromosomes in gamete-producing cells being reduced to one half and that involves a reduction division in which one of each pair of homologous chromosomes passes to each daughter cell and a mitotic division -- compare MITOSIS
I feel like your onscreen meiosis, Dr. Bill.
Does that make me your AWADuosis?
For sure, it makes me your AWADuensis. :)
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Ok, Plutarch, if you and Bill are through bantering about the subject and confounding the meaning of the term with disassoiated derivatives of Greek, I will explain to the good people out in Awadland the full and absolute meaning of the word "Irony".
But first I must go to the bathroom. Be right back.
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