Re: Pet Peeve Words, a rebuttal?

["Paul C. Nendick" <pauly -at- ENTERACT -dot- COM>]

I more or less quote the Webster English Dictionary, Amen.

Irony \I"ron*y\
------
n.[L. ironia, Gr. ? dissimulation, fr. ? a dissembler in speech, fr.
=? to speak; perh. akin to E. word: cf. F. ironie.]
1. Dissimulation; ignorance feigned for the purpose of confounding or
   provoking an antagonist.
2. A sort of humor, ridicule, or light sarcasm, which adopts a mode of
   speech the meaning of which is contrary to the literal sense of the
   words.

Ironic
-------
   Pertaining, containing, expressing, or characterized by irony.

I claim many writers misuse 'irony/ironic' when 'coincidental'
or another word would be more precise.

Example:
"In a ironic twist of fate, a woman was killed today when a car
 driven by her fiancé plummeted from a cliff onto her bungalow
 where she was cheating on him with his best friend."

...which may better be expressed by...

"By tragic coincidence, a woman was killed today when a car
 driven by her fiancé plummeted from a cliff onto her bungalow where
 she was cheating on him with his best friend."

Note: This is not an invitation to debate the use of the word tragic.

You won't be misunderstood by a literate individual like myself if
you realize that what is considered a 'working' definition of a word
is not always that word's correct definition.

A confused juno user wrote:
>
> Dare I ask, what is >your< (working (??)) definition of 'irony,' and
> 'ironic'...??
> Before I'll accept being accused of misunderstanding something, I'd be
> interested to know WHO is misunderstanding me...
> 8^)
> ...thanks...
> - Thespina Hadjimichael
> thadjm -at- juno -dot- com
>
> On Fri, 12 Sep 1997 19:30:52 -0500 "Paul C. Nendick"
> <pauly -at- ENTERACT -dot- COM>
> writes:
> >No word is more misunderstood or abused in our society and
> >particularly
> >in our current media than the powerful term 'irony' and its
> derivative
> >'ironic.'
> >
> >While working as a journalist for my university's daily, I tacked a
> >copy
> >of the Oxford definition of this fine word on my editor's door.  The
> >heroism of my effort was lost. I fear lost forever.

--
Paul C. Nendick
Freelance Technical Writer
Chicago
mailto:pauly -at- enteract -dot- com
www.enteract.com/~pauly

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