Picture this: your friend and you are watching a sitcom and a sassy sidekick walks into a room, carrying a four-tiered wedding cake. He trips, falls,
Zamislite seldeće: gledate komičnu seriju sa prijateljem i nadmeni lik ulazi u sobu noseći četvorospratnu mladenačku tortu. Sapliće se, pada
and face-plants into the cake. Your friend doubles over with laughter and says, "It's so ridiculous! So ironic!" Well, quick, what do you do? Do you laugh along with the laugh track and let this grievous misinterpretation of irony go? Or, do you throw caution to the wind and explain the true meaning of irony? If you're me, you choose the latter. Unfortunately, irony has been completely misunderstood. We tend to throw out that term whenever we see something funny or coincidental. And while many examples of true irony can be funny, that is not the driving factor of being ironic. A situation is only ironic if what happens is the exact opposite of what was expected. If you expect A, but get B, then you have irony. Let's take the slap-stick cake situation as an example. When someone walks in precariously balancing something that shouldn't be carried alone, trips, falls, and makes a mess, it is funny, but it's not ironic. In fact, you probably expect someone who is single-handedly carrying a huge cake to trip. When he does, reality aligns with expectations, and so that is not irony. But what if the sassy sidekick walked in wearing a gold medal that he'd won at the cake walking event at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996? What if that sidekick was a professional cake carrier? Then, maybe there would have been a reasonable expectation that he would have been more skilled when carrying a ridiculously large cake. Then, when that reasonable expectation was not met by the tripping sidekick, irony would have been exemplified. Another example. A senior citizen texting and blogging. The common and reasonable expectation of more mature men and women is that they don't like or know technology, that they have a hard time turning on a computer, or that they have the old brick cell phones from the 1980s. One should not expect them to be connected, high-tech, or savvy enough to text or to be blogging, which must seem like some sort of newfangled thing that "back in my day," they never had. So when Granny pulls out her smart phone to post pictures of her dentures or her grandkids, irony ensues. Reasonable expectations of the situation are not met. That is irony. So while the cake dropper might not be ironic, there are all kinds of situations in life that are. Go out, and find those true examples of irony.
i sleće licem pravo u tortu. Prijatelj vam se valja od smeha i kaže: "Ovo je urnebesno! Kakva ironija!" Brzo, šta ćete uraditi? Da li se smejete sa njim i dopuštate da se provuče sa ovako bolno pogrešnom interpretacijom ironije? Ili uzimate stvar u svoje ruke i objasnite mu pravo značenje ironije? Ako ste kao ja, izabraćete drugu opciju. Nažalost, ironija se potpuno pogrešno tumači. Gađamo se ovom rečju kad god vidimo nešto smešno ili slučajno. Iako mnogi primeri ironije zaista mogu biti smešni, to nije ono što određuje ironiju. Situacija je ironična jedino ako je ono što se dogodilo potpuno suprotno od onoga što se očekivalo. Ako očekujete A, ali dobijete B, onda je to ironija. Uzmimo za primer situaciju sa tortom. Kada se neko, ko oprezno balansira nečim što ne bi trebalo sam da nosi saplete, padne i napravi nered, to je smešno, ali nije ironično. Zapravo, verovatno je za očekivati da se neko, ko sam nosi ogromnu tortu, saplete i padne. Kada se to desi, stvarnost je poravnata sa očekivanjima i to <i>nije</i> Ali, šta ako nadmeni lik uđe u sobu noseći oko vrata zlatnu medalju koju je osvojio na prvenstvu u nošenju torti na Olimpijskim igrama u Atlanti 1996? Šta ako je nadmeni lik u stvari profesionalni nosač torti? Tada bi možda bilo razumno očekivati da je on vešt u nošenju nenormalno velikih torti. U tom slučaju ono što se dogodilo je u suprotnosti sa očekivanim i to je primer ironije. Još jedan primer. Penzioner koji šalje poruke i ima svoj blog. Uobičajeno i razumno očekivanje malo <i>zrelijih</i> ljudi bilo bi da se penzioneri ne razumeju u tehnologiju i ne vole je, da imaju poteškoća da pronađu dugme za paljenje kompjutera ili da imaju mobilne telefone iz osamdesetih nalik ciglama. Ne biste očekivali da su povezani, tehnološki pismeni i vešti u kucaju poruka ili pisanju blogova što deluje kao nešto moderno čega "u moje vreme" nije bilo. Tako da kada baka izvadi svoj pametni telefon da podeli slike svoje proteze ili svojih unuka, nastaje ironija. Razumna očekivanje situacije nisu ispunjena. To je ironija. Iako momak kojem pada torta možda nije ironičan, postoji toliko različitih situacija u životu koje jesu. Izađite napolje i nađite te prave primere ironije.