Brevity is the soul of wit.

[KaptKaos]

My eldest daughter likes to write. Her teachers encourage her, as she seems to have a talent for it.

Tonight we discussed sarcasm and irony. Difficult concepts, particularly irony. Many adults don't get it.

Then we tried to have some fun with language. I recounted a story from when she was 18 months old. She answered the phone before we could grab it. We smiled and asked who she was talking to. She looked at us and said "it's empty." That was 9 years ago.

In an effort to help teach irony, I am open to examples. One of my favorite comes from a George Carlin bit where he is reading the news headlines: "Jacques Cousteau dies in bathtub accident." That's a difficult example, as she has no idea who Cousteau was. So I am looking for some age appropriate irony examples, as well as any fun language combinations.


Keep it light. Keep it clean. TIA

[masraum]

I'm looking forward to the responses you receive.

[M.D. Holloway]

I once found a shucking knife embedded in the shell of an oyster...now thats ironic.

Years ago I drove past a very very old greenhouse. The top was pretty much gone and so were most of the sides and through the roof grew trees...now thats ironic.

I also find it ironic when doctors catch colds, when I get thirsty while swimming and how I never seem to get full of eating stuffing.

[KaptKaos]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

... and how I never seem to get full of eating stuffing.

This might be funner than I thought!

[Hendog]

Seeing as how we all love pictures...

[M.D. Holloway]

I guess the most ironic thing I can think of is the use of ethanol in fuel. It is meant to produce cleaner emissions and reduce petro dependency yet it is doing exactly the opposite. (Off my soapbox now) ((How about those folks years ago that were having fits about all the phosphates in detergents? They really had one heck of a soapbox huh?))

[rcecale]

Have you heard about the man who spent his last $10.00 on a wallet to keep his money in?

Or how about the bald man who loved his comb so much he said he would never part with it?

Randy

[M.D. Holloway]

My wife says she is 'sick and tired' of being sick and tired. I think thats ironic...

If Christ was a carpenter, whose name did he use in vain when he struck his thumb with a hammer? Now thats ironic!

[M.D. Holloway]

[KaptKaos]

Lube, I love the input, but can you delete the KKK and the bald guy? Thx.

[M.D. Holloway]

done - FWIW, the bald guy is William James Myers aka George (the Animal) Steele of WWF fame and was a legend of the WWF - he was actually a football star at MSU and holds a masters degree. Now THATS IRONIC!!!

[pwd72s]

Jill St. John, most known as a Bond girl, is a member of MENSA...that's a bit ironic, eh?

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Jill St. John, most known as a Bond girl, is a member of MENSA...that's a bit ironic, eh?

Paul, I'm missing the irony on that one. Please paint me a picture.

Here's one that's somewhat ironic, given the success of certain rear-engined, water-cooled race cars:
"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent."

[DanielDudley]

Irony is like running away from a dog and bumping into a wolf.

Or else it is like running away from a wolf and getting bitten by a dog.

I'm never really sure...

[ZOO]

Have her read "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry. Available here:

The Gift Of The Magi by O Henry

[Rick Lee]

Took this one myself. I'm a rebel.

[cashflyer]

Henry Watson Fowler, in The King's English, says “any definition of irony—though hundreds might be given, and very few of them would be accepted—must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same."

So many types of irony.... Irony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




While the first lady campaigns against obesity, and the president signs laws called the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, and some call for bans on fatty foods or the toys that attract kids, and call for taxes on fatty foods, we are subsidizing the very foods to blame.

How? Federal subsidies maintain an oversupply of certain foods at commensurately cheap prices. Subsidies have proved a catalyst for agribusiness to produce far more food than the population can eat, reducing the price for consumers. Cheap food has led restaurants to serve larger portions, and arguably this has contributed to the obesity problem.

Now that's irony.

[dheinz]

Steven Wright Jokes

[Aurel]

That one screams irony:

[DARISC]

After years of saving what he could from his meager pay for polishing the cannon on the lawn of the VFW building, the old man was finally able to retire to live out his remaining years with his loving wife.

When he returned home from his final day of work, anxious to surprise his wife with the news that he'd finally retired, he found her waiting for him beside a huge cannon on the front lawn of their humble little house. The old man stopped dead in his tracks, dumbstruck.

Finally he was able to ask, Where did that come from? His beaming wife replied, Honey, I took all the money you saved for retirement and bought it for you. Now you don't have to go to the VFW every day to polish theirs.