Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for January 12, 2013

Subtle.

i dont under stand this reference the second time in 2 days i must be thick or somthing

Alanis Morissette, wrote a very popular song in the 90s, called Ironic. It’s a great song, but unfortunately, she misused the word Ironic in the lyrics, repeatedly. Where she described unfortunate “murphy’s Law” sort of events as “ironic.” Because of it’s popularity, the generation that listened to music in the 90s took away an inappropriate definition and used the world inappropriately.

And I say this with all respect. I’m a Huge fan of Alanis, actually. But, she did use the word wrong in her song, now other people do too, and that is the reference.

That is certainly a Pyrrhic victory. Well played Dana.

snort bwahahahaha! I remember that strip!

I how ever am suffering under Norovirus and have neither the energy or the remaining braincells to spend all night searching through I Drew This archives to post the link..

But I remember!

WHAT???!!! I LOVE that song!!!

Opposite of wrinkly

Ironic is so gay…It is kind of funny at times how the language changes, and what leads to those changes.

You know what, kid, if Max is the kind of boy you’d want to pay attention to you, he’d never want for you to throw a competition in favor of him or anyone. If beating him in a spelling bee ruins your budding relationship with him, then it wasn’t worth anything to begin with.

(Yes, I’m addressing a fictional character.)

What’s far worse than anything Alanis did to the word “ironic” is people using it to mean “apt” or “exactly expected.”

Well done Phoebe!

One thing about a living language is that the meanings of words change. For example, several hundred years ago, the word “nice” meant “foolish”.

PHE too hung up on being a winner, she’s missing all the joys of doing. MAR is a winner, she’s missing common friendship. They are very good for each other.

The comedians, “Sklar Brothers,” did a parody of Alanis’ song in which they ‘fixed’ all the wrong ironic phrases. :-)

(The Sklar brothers are actually quite good comedians!)

A) The OED’s earliest use of “irony” to refer to a circumstance, rather than a figure of speech, is dated 1657; its first recorded English use of the word in /any/ sense is 1502. It is ridiculous that Alanis Morrisette should be taken to task for using a word in a way that it has been used for most of its known existence, especially since the two meanings don’t get in each other’s way.

My best guess is that, because she started her career as a Canadian teeny-pop idol (like “Robin Sparkles” on “How I Met Your Mother̦”), some people were just looking for an excuse to sneer at her when she started getting serious.

B) The rhetorical sense of “irony” is indeed pretty close to “sarcasm”; the essential difference is just one of degree: sarcasm is nastier.

C) There’s at least one other meaning of “irony”, the sin of irony, viz., making sure that everyone knows how wonderfully modest you are, so they’ll admire you for it.

Required more thought than I usually offer, but I grant it is clever. The victory itself may have been “pyrrhic,” – depending on the reaction of Max and her apparent feelings toward him – which could have made her reflection on the victory “ironic.”

Alanis is only the most widely known abuser of irony, but she’s got plenty of local company!

Way to make me feel old there, Feeb.

“Ouster” has been used in English since 1531.

No. It came into English from medieval French, and has the same construction as, for example, “waiver” and “disclaimer”. “-er” has some six different meanings in English.

Remember what Sherlock Holmes said: “I never guess. It is a shocking habit destructive to the logical faculty."

I am glomming my way through this DELIGHTFUL strip but this… THIS WAS GREAT