Forgive me if this sounds an unnecessary word to suggest for “Word of the Day”, but in my experience many people use the word “Irony” incorrectly and sometimes it is used when “sarcastic” is meant.  Also “irony is much bandied about in art-and-film “critiques” as part of the meaningless mumbo jumbo used by so-called critics e.g. “his forceful blacks shriek out at us with bitter irony from a mayhem of uncompromising colour”.  I must say here that that last sentence is an invention of mine and is a “parody” of pretentious art critics but it should give you an idea of what I mean. 
  My father applied many years ago for a hearing aid from the National Health Service (in the U.K.).  He died two years later.  On the day of the funeral, his hearing aid arrive in the post.  Now that I call ironic.  Lonecat

I’d say this totally ironic and considering government’s ability to get things done, totally pretentious.  Don’t forget sardonic.

Lonecat, you can be grateful that your dad’s hearing aid turned up so late, or he might have heard The Call sooner.

Lonecat - 30 May 2008 03:31 AM

Forgive me if this sounds an unnecessary word to suggest for “Word of the Day”, but in my experience many people use the word “Irony” incorrectly and sometimes it is used when “sarcastic” is meant.

‘Irony’ has several senses, one of which is close to ‘sarcastic’.  YourDictionary.com has a good list of the different meanings.  When I was at school some years ago, I was once told to write an essay listing examples of irony occurring in a book; I wrongly interpreted this as ‘sarcasm’ rather than ‘dramatic irony’, and got a low mark as a result - which I thought was rather unfair!

Actually, one can be sarcastic without being (in any sense) ironic.  For example, Sir Winston Churchill once described someone’s painting of him, which he detested, as ‘a remarkable example of modern art’.  ‘Remarkable’ is here used literally, but with the implication ‘remarkably bad’.

Looks like you are doing what I try to do, ACB, get a long forgotten post going, again.  Hope this rouses some response.  So many are dead.

At the least mention of irony, we were all galvanised to respond.

Perhaps mention of it in other threads will resurrect them? How ironic.

Could all the scattered threads be woven into an

  i
  r
  o
  n
  i
  c

column ?..... the entasis is mine.

I was about to answer this and realized I don’t know what irony is. Could there be a greater fool than I?

Perhaps amongst the Corinthians, who were nearly as upright as the Dorics and Ionics , at least in this column, and that’s the irony of it, numbsain.

numbsain - 07 February 2009 12:12 PM

I was about to answer this and realized I don’t know what irony is. Could there be a greater fool than I?

Very Socratic.

ACB: Socratic eh, and just how cratic was it?

Douglang: Are you saying the Ionics were related to the Ironics? I guess you just column as you see ‘em.

But ironic columns can grow rustic, so they are unsuitable for Greek city states.  Palladian columns are tougher - they show rare mettle.  This would be a good subject for an assay.

Have you noticed that there is an option in the “Fast Reply” menu that, if this noble column should ever degenerate, you can be notified by email of posts in the thread ?  From observation, it appears that columns are ironic, and posts are sarcastic.

Neil Young must have been a railwayman - how else could he have known that sleepers never rust, even if there’s blood on the tracks ?

Rustic columnists in their sarcastic posts may be in need of emotional props ?

Yes, then they would be more urbane, which is better than the peasant situation.  Some of their ironic columns can be savage in their ferrosity.