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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab

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To: E who wrote (1731)	1/17/1999 9:04:00 AM
From: Anaxagoras	Read Replies (1) of 4710

Hi E. Another thought or two on 'irony'.... After our discussion yesterday I gave a little more thought to this word. The stock example I've used in the past to nail down one of its meanings is the outbreak of a fire in a fire house. Anyway, most nights when I put my older daughter down to sleep (age two) I recite poems that occur to me- the sound is at least soothing even if the meaning is unclear to a toddler. Last night I was midway through Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" when I stumbled upon one of the best examples ever: "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here...." Ha! Now that's ironic! Well, after chuckling to myself and getting my child off to sleep I trotted over to the OED. 'Irony' is actually a tricky word, I find. I've had to consult a dictionary on many occasions for its proper use. The OED recognizes three different "semantic categories" for the word. The examples I gave above are appropriate to the second listed meaning, and that's almost always how I use the expression. The third OED listing focuses on Socratic irony. But the reason I'm mentioning the dictionary at all is for a witty explanation of the word found under the first listing for "A figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used": 1656 E. Reyner Rules Govt. Tongue 227 An Irony is a nipping jeast, or a speech that hath the honey of pleasantnesse in its mouth, and a sting of rebuke in its taile. Ahhhhh.... :-) Anaxagoras

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