Questions tagged [irony]
for questions about irony and ironic statements.
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Term for Exaggeration, Used in Argument
Is there a term for the use of exaggeration or hyperbole, when it is used to the opposite effect of demeaning or minimizing? This often occurs in informal disagreements.
For example, woman says, You ...
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A cell phone company talking about the dangers of texting — irony or not? [duplicate]
There was a presentation at our school about texting and driving. It was held by AT&T, a cell phone company. Would it be considered ironic that a cell phone company is talking about the dangers of ...
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Does this situation constitute a "Pyrrhic Victory"? Irony?
Consider the following situation:
A person, Alice, is hired to do a job for a company, ZooBiz.
Alice is able to entirely outsource her job. She pays the outsourcer 50% of what she makes, and no ...
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Irony - Alanis Morisette Song [duplicate]
This is old news ...but I am having trouble understanding why some of Alanis Morisette's examples from her song 'Ironic' are not ironic.
For example: "An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the ...
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"Truth, Justice AND the American Way"?
Folk-blues artist Richie Havens, in his 1972 album "Live at the Cellar Door," made a comment about the Superman introduction which said that the Man of Steel fought for "Truth, Justice and the ...
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Is phrase "wheeled his way somewhere" neutral?
To put the things into perspective, I am no native speaker. I've learnt English in a variety of places, school being one of them.
My English tutor presented a phrase to descibe a movement of a ...
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Ironic question "Do you now?"
From time to time I encounter the sentence "Oh, do you now?" which I suppose expresses some kind of irony. Is the question grammatically correct?
The question was asked also here: http://forum....
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Is this a paradox, oxymoron, or irony?
The sentence is
Laughter was his way of expressing his alarm and despair.
I know this is the definition of an oxymoron:
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in ...
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Convoluted Synonym for “Convoluted”
Does anyone know of a complicated, preferably large word that is synonymous with convoluted?
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Usage of 'bovinely' when fastness or slowness are involved
I know that in English 'I tried to go as slow as possible' and 'I tried to go as fast as possible' have a very different meaning, but I'm unsure how 'bovinely', before 'possible', change that ...
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Is this event ironic or a funny coincidence: (explain why as well)
Is this event ironic or a funny coincidence: (explain why as well)
Bob is walking with Jerry outside after it has just finished raining.
Bob starts on about this time some "stupid, aloof" guy ...
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Word to use instead of "irony"
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 ...
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What’s a “ ‘friend’ friend”, and is that meant to be ironic? [duplicate]
Here is a quote from the "Lois & Clark" series:
A: Who are you?
B [a guy]: I'm a friend of her ["her" is another female character whom B is looking for].
A: A boyfriend, a "friend" friend ...
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Does this sentence use ironic quotation marks correctly?
Women ‘sold, resold’ in name of tradition
Selling is the real part, no? I find no irony or double meaning there.
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Etymology of "Utopia"; counterintuitive
How did the word "Utopia" (coined by Sir Thomas More) come to mean an ideal place when the Greek etymology specifically means "Not a place."
Relatedly, while this might be the prime use of the word "...
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Is this situation ironic or coincidental? [duplicate]
I'm under the impression irony is when the opposite of what you expect happens. Someone dies giving a safety presentation, for example. Coincidental, on the other hand, is when merely something ...
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Is the use of the word "irony" correct in this paragraph?
I recently came across a Facebook post, about a city in India known as Patiala. I was arguing with the admin, about the correct usage of the word irony. Is the word correctly used in the following ...
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What is the word for statements that aren't ironic but have an interesting juxtaposition?
For example: my grandmother went to university and learnt to speak RP; I went to university and picked up her cockney drawl.
Or: I was searching for a book on the internet and when I found it, it ...
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Example of Irony
Recently I had a test in college that asks us to give an example of irony.
I wrote this word by word:
An astronaut had over 200 missions into space over two decades. Ironically, two days after he ...
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Is this Irony/Idiomatic speech? [closed]
I was reading this blog post and had trouble understanding this comment on the piece:
Or you could appropriate the Freudian hermeneutic: "Sometimes a vessel
is just a vessel."
I understand "...
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Is 'irony' the correct word to describe a character's delusionary observations?
In the following passage, would it be correct to say that the bolded sentence uses irony?
She walks past one of the farm workers (is his name John?), a robust,
small- headed man wearing a potato-...
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What does the sentence "say hello to karma" mean?
It's a part of a Dilbert's strip you can find
here:
I understand every word. But not the joke as a whole. Can you explain the irony?
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Curious about the type of humour employed by Twitter's @AntiJokeCat? [closed]
Despite my general disregard for Twitter and its adherents, I very much enjoy AntiJokeCat's brand of humour. His/her gags are funny because they seem to subvert the notion of what a joke is and ...
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What exactly is "verbal irony"
My daughter has been given the task - by me - of explaining irony. She identified and did a jolly good job of explaining 5 of the 6 apparent types of irony: dramatic, cosmic, socratic, situational, ...
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When did ironic use of "as in" start?
As far as I (as non-native speaker) understand the words as in, this is short for for instance, as in:
Understanding “that” as in this statement
It's my impression that at some point in time ...
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Is this an example of irony?
It's ironical that Linux, the most secure OS, is commonly used to hack other machines.
Is that sentence correct, with respect to the irony part?
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Is there a better / correct term for the de facto usage of ‘ironic’?
The word ‘ironic’ is known to be quite frequently misused, to the point that some dictionaries have actually started accepting the de facto usage as another definition, usually calling it situational ...
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What does the word "rich" mean in the reactionary sarcastic phrase "That's rich!"?
What does the word "rich" mean in the reactionary sarcastic phrase "That's rich!" (Google shows 67M hits).
I take it to mean "rich" as in "rich in irony". What it is the source of the phrase and how ...
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