It was, like, literally ironic

There are few words that used incorrectly more often than 'irony'. I was reminded of this watching the news the other night, where a reported talked about a man who had been the victim of a hit and run driver, so the family were holding a candlelight vigil for him "ironically at the very scene of the accident."

Irony is when the actual meaning of a word, phrase or occurence is the opposite of its literal meaning. For example, if you give your wife flowers to show that you love her, but she assumes that it is because you have done something bad and gets pissed at you, is ironic.

However, just because something is odd, funny or unexpected does not make it ironic. Perhaps the most well-known example of misunderstanding of the word irony is by Alanis Morisette. According to Alanis, the following things are 'ironic':

• 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife
• A black fly in your Chardonnay
• A death row pardon two minutes too late
• A man who is afraid to fly dying in a plane crash

NONE of these are ironic. They may be unfortunate, or examples of Murphy's Law, but irony they ain't. In fact, a man who is afraid to die being killed in a plane crash is the OPPOSITE of irony. Of course, Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morisette sold over 15million albums, so what would I know.

The irony of it all is that what Alanis is saying in her lyrics really is ironic, because they are not examples of irony at all. Yeah.

The same goes for the word "literally". If something is literal then it really did happen. You can literally jump for joy, but you cannot literally be gutted and be talking about it later.

Why do people have to be so stupid?