Monday, August 21, 2006
Meaning of irony
It is perfectly ironical for teachers to constantly teach students the wrong meaning and definition of irony, but that is precisely what teachers in my beloved Junior College are doing now.
According to them, irony means "Expected outcome is different from intended result."
Any students who had taken literature before would laugh at such a sloppy and childish definition.
1) There are many kinds of irony, including dramatic irony, socratic irony, etc. It is pointless and wrong to use a "one size fit all" method for such a profound word. The meaning of dramatic and socratic irony is very different.
2) If just expected outcome being different from intended result is irony, then irony took place all the time! I can study hard for my test, and still flunk it, and that is irony. I can stack playing cards on top of one another, expecting them to stay erected, but when the whole stack fell it is also called irony.
So lets examine what I dug from dictionary.com.
When I was in The Chinese High School, english teachers already taught us the meaning and use of irony, oxymoron, and paradox. And they did a better job, even though being secondary school students at that time, we were much more dimmer than now.
Prehaps the phrase "graduating to AJC" is an irony.
According to them, irony means "Expected outcome is different from intended result."
Any students who had taken literature before would laugh at such a sloppy and childish definition.
1) There are many kinds of irony, including dramatic irony, socratic irony, etc. It is pointless and wrong to use a "one size fit all" method for such a profound word. The meaning of dramatic and socratic irony is very different.
2) If just expected outcome being different from intended result is irony, then irony took place all the time! I can study hard for my test, and still flunk it, and that is irony. I can stack playing cards on top of one another, expecting them to stay erected, but when the whole stack fell it is also called irony.
So lets examine what I dug from dictionary.com.
IRONY
(P)PRONUNCIATION KEY
(r-n, r-) n. pl. ironies
+ The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning. A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit1.
+ Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated (Richard Kain).An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.
+ Dramatic irony.
+ Socratic irony.[French ironie, from Old French, from Latin rna, from Greek eirneia, feigned ignorance, from eirn,dissembler, probably from eirein, to say. See wer-5 in Indo-European Roots.]
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IRONY
n 1: witty language used to convey insults or scorn; "he used sarcasm to upset his opponent"; "irony is wasted on the stupid"; "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"--Johathan Swift [syn: sarcasm, satire, caustic remark] 2: incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs; "the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" 3: a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
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IRONY
irony: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary
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When I was in The Chinese High School, english teachers already taught us the meaning and use of irony, oxymoron, and paradox. And they did a better job, even though being secondary school students at that time, we were much more dimmer than now.
Prehaps the phrase "graduating to AJC" is an irony.
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