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I have read exchanges such as the following being described as Irony:

A: "I'm going they're now" B: "It's "there". Your such an idiot"

However I'm a bit at a loss whether it could be described as an irony or not, since it's hardly the opposite of what is intended to happen.

What word could be best used in this context instead? I was thinking hypocritical, but that doesn't fit very well either (since there's no real intention of making the mistake).

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  • See also Muphry's Law
    – Avner Shahar-Kashtan
    Commented Nov 13, 2013 at 21:32
  • I call such a situation potcalling after the idiom "the pot calling the kettle black," but since that's a personal neologism, it probably won't help much.
    – Chris Sunami
    Commented Nov 13, 2013 at 22:24
  • Hypocritical is the correct term: 'behaving in a way that suggests one has higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case' [Google]. Hypocrites may well be blind to their own moral or other shortcomings (planks and eyes?) Irony is also in evidence – the incongruity of making a near identical mistake in the censure.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Nov 14, 2013 at 0:09

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The word I would use is ironic because that is in fact what it is. Person B is correcting Person A's grammar and in doing so makes a grammatical error, hence the irony.

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  • But the correction itself is valid. If the correction was incorrect "It's "their" " that would be more clear irony in my opinion.
    – Haedrian
    Commented Nov 14, 2013 at 6:32
  • The irony comes from Person B's response. They correct Person A's use of "there" and then uses "your" instead of "you're". That is why this dialog is ironic.
    – Mastergeek
    Commented Nov 14, 2013 at 20:30

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