ironic

_{(Request permission to nuke Webster_1913, sir!)}

A man turning 98, winning the lottery and dying is not ironic. That's just a bummer.

A black fly in your Chardonnay isn't ironic. At least not without more context.

A traffic jam when you're already late, a free ride when you've already paid, a non-smoking sign on your cigarette break, 10,000 spoons when you need a knife, rain on your wedding day - all of these things suck, but bad luck isn't the same as irony.

Meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife is situtational irony though, as there is some expectation. The guy who's afraid of flying and then crashes on his first flight, maybe.

However, I do think it's possible that Morisette is a smart woman and sung the song intentionally - because it is quite ironic that a song called "ironic" has little to do with irony.

I remember him saying this once in one of his books.

If a diabetic is hit by a truck, it's a normal death.
If a diabetic is hit by a sugar truck, it's an odd and tragic death.
If a diabetic is hit by an insulin truck, it's a coincidental and oddly poetic death.
But if a diabetic is on his way to get some insulin and he gets hit by an insulin truck, then that's ironic.

It was also a background plot device in Teaching Mrs. Tingle.

I*ron"ic (?), a.

Ironical.

Sir T. Herbert.

© Webster 1913.