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The misuse of "irony" is another one of those situations that seems to show that there's a missing word in the English language. To take one specific example f
by IvyMike 14y ago
The misuse of "irony" is another one of those situations that seems to show that there's a missing word in the English language.
To take one specific example from Alanis, (yes I'm going there), there's something peculiarly funny about "ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife" in a way that wouldn't be if you had "ten thousand turtles when all you need is a knife". I think we needed a word for "bittersweet happenstance", and people wrongly latched onto "irony".
- rbehrends 14y agoThere is a term for this: "irony of fate" [1]. Which is presumably where the confusion with irony (as a stand-alone word) comes from. Interestingly enough, the term exists in a literal translation in other languages, too: "Ironie des Schicksals" in German, "ironie du sort" in French, and "ironia della sorte" in Italian. [1] http://www.bartleby.com/81/8963.html http://www.bartleby.com/81/8963.html