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tsuwm mentioned the possibility of someone's asking for the definition of irony on another thread. (I'd mentioned that I value an ironic sense of humor.) There have been volumes written about irony, and the subject is redolent with human fun, foibles and even tragedy. I thought it might be interesting to enumerate here examples of different types of irony, variously categorized according to your references. I think it was ironic that Einstein with his own brand of genuis is purported to have been escorted to classes by students because he wouldn't find the way. (This is an example of irony's ability to admire with veiled light criticism.) Irony can take even grim turns and still maintain an element of humor. Here are two examples from the web: "A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle. Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current, she whacked him with a handy plank of wood by the back door, breaking his arm in two places. Till that moment he had been happily listening to his Walkman." "The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later they were both eaten by a killer whale." http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/irony.htmlLiterature is rife with examples of irony, both humorous and tragic. Dramatic irony throughout "Oedipus Rex" comes immediately to mind. Beethoven's life of genuis and brilliance in music took the ironically tragic turn when he became deaf, though continuing his composition. It's a certain kind of irony (I'll have to look up the exact term) that Beverly Sills' daughter is deaf. So, sometimes poignant, sometimes tragic, often humorous, what are some, if any, examples of irony playing out its hand you've observed in either life or the arts? I hope someone else has a few examples. Best regards, WW
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Is it irony to call this irony? Silva Rhetoricae http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm defines irony as Speaking in such a way as to imply the contrary of what one says, often for the purpose of derision, mockery, or jest.So what is the correct term for what Dub Dub' defined?
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Dear Faldage: "stochastic" is a very interesting word, and not an easy word to define. I believe that many participants of AWADtalk would be interested to see your definition of it .
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In reply to:
Silva Rhetoricae http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm defines irony as Speaking in such a way as to imply the contrary of what one says, often for the purpose of derision, mockery, or jest.
So what is the correct term for what Dub Dub' defined?
irony as a figure of speech is as you defined it, but there are two other types:
2. irony in the figurative sense: a condition of affairs or events of a character opposite to what was, or might naturally be, expected; a contradictory outcome of events as if in mockery of the promise and fitness of things (tragic irony, in F. ironie du sort).
3. irony in the etymological sense: dissimulation, pretence; esp. in reference to the dissimulation of ignorance practiced by Socrates as a means of confuting an adversary (Socratic irony).
the Greek root means dissimulation, ignorance purposely affected; the figurative sense has come about through, some might say, misuse; but even here it was originally used in a more classical sense: The contrast between man with his hopes, fears, wishes, and undertakings, and a dark, inflexible fate, affords abundant room for the exhibition of tragic irony.
the leap from Thomas Hardy's Life's Little Ironies to Alanis Morrissette's "Isn't it Ironic" is a big one.
http://www.ebooks3.com/cgi-bin/ebooks/ebook.cgi?folder=lifes_little_ironies&next=1
http://www.saywhat.sphosting.com/a/alanisironic.shtml
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The humour in irony is usually only perceived readily by third parties. Using the example of the seals prepared as food for the killer whales, while we may think it's funny (and it was; I remember reading the report), I'm sure that the people who cared for the seals and then released them didn't find it one bit funny ... at the same time, they may well have recognised the irony implicit in the situation! 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Dear Faldage: it is stercoraceous that you withhold your definition of stochastic.
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Faldage,
I haven't defined anything; I've simply provided examples of ironic situations. I checked your rhetoric site, by the way. Thanks for providing it. The information on irony doesn't include any mention of the common terms for types of irony. Situational irony is pretty standard--but there are at least two others, perhaps three.
On the rhetoric site, specific types of verbal irony have been defined, and they're worth examining.
Best regards,
WW
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crosswinds,
most of the "ironies" in Morrissette's song shouldn't be classified as ironies at all. but maybe you agree....
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tsuwm: I first only knew a few of the lyrics that weren't ironic, but I just clicked on the site you provided and some of those examples are ironic. "Raining on your wedding day" I don't see as being ironic, however--just a turn in the weather. I've read much of Hardy, but not Life's Little Ironies...I will take a look.
The examples I listed in the first post are examples of various types of irony, but certainly not in the strictly classical sense. I don't see any purpose in restricting here a discussion of irony and its examples to the classic definition unless that's what posters here would rather do. If we did, it would make the task more challenging, but enlightening. I'd have to work like the devil to restrict my wildfire's range of what I view as irony into modest candlelight.
I wish we had some excellent examples here on the thread. When Kate in Taming of the Shrew is played very well, her final soliloquy about the role of the wife works best (and only well, in my opinion) if delivered with an ironic tone of voice. If delivered otherwise--with saccharine obsequiousness, for example--I want to spit in her eye.
Anyway, I'll keep my fingers crossed (the ones that are awkwardly gripping this stochastic iron with which I try to poke the embers of the ironic fire), and maybe something will flare up.
Best regards,
WildFire
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tsuwm: You mentioned Dennis Miller in another thread, so I just went to the site and read the bit on Gotham...
In order to scare off the monarch, the Wise Men of Gotham, as they came to be known, feigned madness, setting about such tasks as trying to drown eels and building a fence around their so-called "cuckoo bush" to trap the birds, which of course flew away. Faced with such complete zaniness, King John detoured around the eel-drowning town and Gotham was spared the expense of playing host to him.
These tales of the "foles of Gotham" spread and were eventually collected and published in the 16th century. In calling New York "Gotham," Irving was pointing out a similar "method to the madness" of the city's inhabitants, who acted foolishly so that outsiders would leave them alone.
There is irony in New York's being referred to as Gotham once you know the story of its historical archetype because, whatever kind of madness New Yorkers may feign, it's not working. Ironically, it is often the madness of New York that pulls 'em in. (I just got an image of that naked cowboy on the corner of Time Square, playing his guitar...) If word got around that there were New Yorkers building fences around bushes to keep the birds in, the thrill seekers would go there, too, to be amazed.
Wouldn't there be irony in calling a trailer, "Buckingham Palace"? And a dirty, drunk, swearing woman comes to the door of the trailer and someone continues the ironic tale by saying, "And this is the Queen." Even more ironic would be the queen referring to herself as such...and so on. Sometimes, not always, irony and exaggeration overlap.
Thanks for unknowingly providing an inspiration for an observation on the subject at hand.
WW
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