Isn't it Ironic?

A couple years back, a friend of mine and I created an Altered Book for an art project, the assigned theme being 'something unexpected.' We chose to focus on the many uses of the word 'Irony'. Irony is a bit of a problem because the majority of people seem to misuse it nowadays, so our project highlighted correct examples of irony. The word 'ironic' usually refers to events in which there is a stark contrast between what is expected, and what actually occurs.

This, therefore, is the opposite of Irony - a 'dead end' sign in a graveyard might not be expected, but the two objects do not contradict in any matter at all, and in fact support each other, if in an unorthodox manner.

Everyone blames Alanis Morriset and her song 'Ironic' for everyone's misunderstanding of the adjective. That's not entirely fair - irony is a confusing conception anyways, especially when we try to use it to describe situations. In fact, all of the situations in the song fit under one category of irony or another, most under 'Cosmic Irony', which describes any situation in which the cosmos or fate is stopping us from doing what we intend. For example, one line states 'traffic jam when you're already late'. While this is technically Cosmic Irony, it's a bit of a stretch, and would be more accurately described as an unfortunate coincidence. No other form of irony would cover such plain situations, as a traffic jam isn't exactly unexpected. Read on.

The easiest-to-explain form of Irony is verbal irony - in essence, sarcasm. Wordsmiths insist that sarcasm and verbal irony are not the same thing, and they're not, but they're similar enough to use as an example. In verbal irony, the speaker will say something and completely intend an opposing meaning (not accidentally). Phrases like 'I love  this play', or 'it's as fun as watching grass grow' are examples of proper verbal irony (assuming, of course, that the listener understands the speaker's intent, probably through intonation and body language). A phrase like 'I'm as happy as you are', is not verbal irony, however, as long as the speaker doesn't realize the listener is really unhappy.

I think this is pretty ironic.

Most forms of Irony are only applicable to literature or fiction. Dramatic irony is when a reader or audience knows something the characters do not. Thus, it's the character's expectations that are contradicted. Tragic irony is pretty much the same thing, as long as the unexpected result of whatever action the characters took is tragic.

Situational irony is the type of irony that can occur in fiction and in real life. It only occurs when something happens that is directly opposite of what was intended. Finally winning the lottery, then, is not at all ironic, even if I've been buying hundreds of tickets every day. If I died the next day, as in the Alanis Morriset song, it would only be cosmically ironic, and not an example of situational irony (especially if, as in the song, I'm 98 years old. That moves away from cosmic irony and becomes not really ironic at all).

Also not ironic. Not in the least. Wouldn't you expect the Titanic to sink?

A good example of situational irony, which is also dramatic irony and tragic irony is in Romeo and Juliet. Juliet takes a drug to fake her death, and believing her to be actually dead, Romero kills himself. Juliet's act of faking her death, with its unintended result, is situation irony; the fact that the audience knows Juliet is still alive makes this dramatic irony, and the fact that they all end up dead makes this tragic irony.

I may sound like I'm making too much of this, but, while I believe our language is fluid for good reason, I can't sit by and let perfectly good words get misconstrued by people who don't know their meaning. Irony is a confusing term, and it's much more understandable to misuse Irony than it is to misuse Literally. However, if you're unsure as to the correct usage, don't use the word. If ever you think you might want to say 'ironic' but you aren't sure you're using it right, say 'coincidentally' instead. It's more often correct.