Why Do No - NO!!! - Americans Understand Irony!??

Well!??

[And no, Orleander, this isn't a dig at you. For God's sakes, I worship the ground you walk on, woman!!!]

 

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Irony, definition:
In civilised countries irony is a form of wit, relying on incongruity to make the point.
In the USA it's something used to get creases out of your shirty.

 

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it leads to sarcasm and sneering.

 

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I agree.

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I realized today that redarmy11 is insane.

 

I realised that the day he first posted. BTW that was a great thread.......

 

Wrong thread.

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No, I'll admit, I see no difference between sarcasm and irony.

 

Like we care...
(ooops that was reply to redarmy's comment about it being the wrong thread)

 

Yes, but why, my lovely - why? Lay bare for me this aspect of your national psyche, please. I'm genuinely perplexed.

 

irony snob

 

Because I'd growing up hearing the word 'ironic' but never irony. A person wasn't ironic, they were sarcastic. A situation was ironic.

 

BTW I hope no one mentions Alanis Morissette. I'm sick of that damn song.

 

You just did, buffoon!

 

AURGH!! I can't believe you brought that up!

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...

 

Case in point.

Almost.

It's worse than we thought, doctor. It's continental.

 

short answer americans are stupid
long answer americans are very stupid

 

I refuse to believe that that could be true of a whole nation. In fact - I know it isn't.

Hence my thirst for a satisfactory answer here.

 

What is irony? To me, it's linguistic role-playing. One adopts a position that's contrary to what one actually feels or intends - in order to confuse people and not make a point.

Example:

"What do you think of my shirt? Just bought it."
"Yeah - it's really nice."

Ha ha. That doesn't work at all. It's all in the tone, see? The deadpan expression; the deliberate slowing and overemphasis in the delivery.

In fact, that's probably sarcasm - irony's darker sibling. The thing with irony is that, unlike sarcasm, it isn't necessarily designed to offend. It's more... wry observation.

But I'm struggling to put a fence round this, I admit. Someone help me out here, as I realise now that I've somehow absorbed my appreciation of it without being able to adequately express it.

A good definition:

In fact that whole page is quite illuminating on the subject. Start there and get back to me.

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I must address this because it is niggling at me, coming as it does from left field. From an unexpected source.

Why do you say this, my lovely?