What does the English word ironic really mean?

languages change and today we're looking at a word that might be changing its meaning or not the word is ironic ironic is an adjective and irony is the noun and there's controversy about what ironic means no there's controversy people disagree but let's start with what people agree about we use ironic in a couple of different ways one is to describe how we say things when we use words with the opposite meaning to their literal meaning we are being ironic hi hi oh i like your new hairstyle it's very um sophisticated oh thank you hang on are you being ironic if a comment is ironic the words mean the opposite of what they normally mean ironic means much the same as sarcastic in that example you're being sarcastic aren't you so with irony and sarcasm we say the opposite of what we mean more on their differences later back to the word ironic it's other use is similar we use it to describe a situation that's surprising because it's the opposite of what we expect like when we predict one thing but then the opposite happens brussels sprouts are vicky's favorite vegetable we have to buy a lot of them it's ironic because i didn't used to like them when i was a kid me neither i hated brussels sprouts when i was a kid so you might predict that i'd hate them now too but the opposite happened another example we've just spent three hours trying to fix this computer it's ironic because computers are supposed to save you time we expected computers to save us time but the opposite happened so it's a bit ironic eh but often we use ironic when something is very strange and unexpected have you heard that sandy and jim's house burned down oh no and the ironic thing is they live next door to a fire station oh that's terrible now that's clearly ironic if a house is next door to a fire station you don't expect it to burn down and it illustrates another feature of the word if something's ironic it's often kind of funny in a bad way it's a strange twist of fate an unfortunate bit of luck so here are the features of ironic situations they're unpredictable we expect one thing and then the opposite happens they're often funny and they're often unfortunate as well so funny in a sad way okay now those were things people agree about but what do they disagree about well sometimes people use the word ironic very loosely here's an example it's so hot today yes it's ironic because it's november you might hear people say things like that but was it really ironic in the normal sense of the word i don't think so it's surprising if it's hot in november but just because something surprising doesn't mean it's ironic and sometimes people will say things are ironic when they're just talking about coincidences when i was growing up we lived in victoria road really yes it was ironic because my name's victoria it was coincidental that my name and the street name were the same but was it really ironic no a street name is just a street name you can't use it to predict what the people who live there are called and if you can't make a prediction the result can't be ironic so there's disagreement about how we use the word exactly and it's been going on for a while back in 1996 there was a song by alanis morissette called ironic which listed unlucky events like rain on your wedding day or being offered a free ride when you've just bought your ticket or dying the day after you win the lottery she called these situations ironic and a lot of people complained they said these things are unfortunate coincidences but they're not ironic rain falls on lots of people's wedding days it's bad luck but that doesn't mean it's ironic another example hey i bumped into chris three times in the market today oh how is he he's fine but it's ironic because i haven't seen him for months and then i bump into him three times in one day so that's another example of a coincidence yeah it was unexpected because i didn't plan to meet chris it just happened by chance but that's not enough to make it ironic it would have to be very unexpected to be ironic but if i'd gone to the market in order to avoid meeting chris that would be ironic that would be an unfortunate twist of fate exactly here's a great example by george carlin he said if a diabetic person is run over by a truck full of sugar it's a coincidence but if a diabetic person is run over by a truck full of insulin it's ironic so why does sugar or insulin make a difference here it's because we expect sugar to kill someone who is diabetic but we don't expect insulin to kill them so it's a twist of fate and a funny twist of fate in a sad way okay let's see how much you've learned we've got three meanings of the word ironic here are they all correct is it using words that mean the opposite of what you mean is it a situation where the opposite of what we expect happens and is it a surprising coincidence an unhappy and surprising coincidence meanings one and two are correct and these are the traditional meanings of ironic but meaning three is debatable and most people would say no to be ironic a coincidence would need to have an opposite result and an unexpected result but if it's an unhappy coincidence that's funny at the same time then it could be ironic so let's look at three examples and you can tell us if you think these situations are ironic or not here's a funny thing vicky and i both share the same birthday yes well obviously jay is much older than me but yes we were both born on february the 11th so what do you think is that ironic or not it's a surprising coincidence but that's all it isn't ironic in the traditional sense of the word there was no twist of fate okay next one my car has been stolen and the crazy thing is i parked it outside the police station is that ironic or not it's definitely ironic if you park your car outside a police station you don't expect it to be stolen okay one more example look what i just found my keys i thought they were lost forever i found them behind the photocopier oh it's so annoying i just had a new set made yesterday so what do you think was it ironic that i just found vicky's keys the timing was unlucky because i just had a new set made but it probably wasn't ironic in the normal sense of the word but you might hear people using it like that yeah some people use it very loosely now here's a different question what's the difference between irony and sarcasm they're very similar you're more likely to hear irony when we're talking about literature we tend to use irony in more formal contexts and it's more neutral than sarcasm sarcasm often implies something negative we can use sarcasm to make fun of someone or mock them and it's interesting because the word sarcasm is used a little differently in british and american english we're going to look at that in a future video so make sure you subscribe to our channel so you don't miss it and hit the bell so you get notified until then bye bye everyone [Music] bye [Music] you

Channel: Simple English Videos

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Id: QIDbMTKKXDY

Length: 9min 41sec (581 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 04 2020