Irony

1. Irony The contrast between expectation/appropriateness and reality

2. Kinds of Irony: • Dramatic • Audience or reader knows something important but the characters don’t • Verbal • Speaker says one thing but means the opposite • Situational • Reality is not what was expected or appropriate

3. Formula • In order to ensure that you get full credit for your examples of irony we will be using this formula for situational irony (the most popular in real life) for the remainder of the year. • I EXPECTED…BECAUSE…BUT IN REALITY…

4. Example: • You walk into an old fashioned diner in which the décor is done mostly in Coca-Cola products. Coca-Cola is definitely a dominant fixture is this diner. Yet, when you ask the waitress for an ice-cold Coca-Cola, she replies that they only serve Pepsi products. • You expected the diner to serve Coca-Cola because they are advertising it everywhere and yet in reality, they serve Pepsi (coke’s greatest competitor) instead.

5. Can you think of a time in real life that was IRONIC?

6. You would expect Alanis Morrisette’s song titled “Isn’t it Ironic?” to actually provide examples of irony, because that is what the title implies, but in reality it doesn’t!

7. Let’s Practice! • An old man turned ninety-eight He won the lottery and died the next day - We wouldn’t expect nor is it appropriate that a man who has lived to be as old as 98 to die the day after he wins the lottery because he finally has a reason to live.

8. Let’s Practice • It's a black fly in your Chardonnay • What would you expect? • Why? • But what really happened? • Use the formula!

9. It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late • It's like rain on your wedding day • It's a free ride when you've already paid • It's the good advice that you just didn't take

10. Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye He waited his whole damn life to take that flight And as the plane crashed down he thought "Well isn't this nice..."

11. A traffic jam when you're already late • A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break • It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife • It's meeting the man of my dreams And then meeting his beautiful wife

12. Irony? • In The Crucible, John forgets to say “adultery” when listing commandments after he commits it. • There is a man who is teaching a gun safety class and shoots himself in the foot during instruction. • Singing a song on a crashing plane by a band who died on a crashing plane.

13. Irony? • Wearing green and gold on Fridays. • The second a woman grabs a cab her appointment gets cancelled. • An expert pickpocket is pickpocketed.

14. Irony? • Someone says that people should be nice and then that person is nice. • Someone says people should be honest and then that person is dishonest. • A woman wishes for a baby and then gets pregnant the next day.

15. Irony? • A judge arrives to work early. • There is a smoke shop that does not allow smoking. • I named my dog, “Dog”. • Drawing trees on paper.