On 2006-10-10, Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> probably point out that I am writing from Denmark and was thinking >> specifically of a situation where a dane told me they were being >> 'ironic' (when what they meant, obviously, was that they were being >> ironical), when I asked what they meant by that they said "saying the >> opposite of what I mean" I responded: "so, in other words, what you >> mean by irony is 'sarcasm'" She responded "yes, that's what it means"
And she was pretty much right. Sarcasm is by far the most common form of irony. > Well, my assertion about America clearly doesn't preclude to > possibility of confusion on the part of the Danish too :-). > You are right about the general degradation of the > (understanding of the) meaning of irony. People are just too > damned sloppy with language nowadays. Sarcasm is a form of irony. Irony is when what is meant is different from the obvious literal meaning of the statement. >> She had a degree in communications. Which may explain why she knew what irony was when so few people seem to. Like Alanis Morisette said about the song "Isn't it Ironic": What's ironic about the song is that it doesn't actually contain any irony. -- Grant Edwards grante Yow! While I'm in at LEVITTOWN I thought I'd visi.com like to see the NUCLEAR FAMILY!! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list