Poetic justice (idea) by wharfinger

"An outcome in which vice is punished and virtue rewarded usually in a manner peculiarly or ironically appropriate".

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=poetic+justice

Yeah, "peculiarly or ironically appropriate". Take the scene in The Return of the Jedi where Boba Fett falls into the buried monster's gullet on Tatooine: That is poetic justice, and the only reason we expect it to happen is that poetic justice of that sort ("bad guy hoist by own petard") is a cliché in action movies.

Half the people who talk about "poetic justice" nowadays haven't a clue what it means. You can use the term however you like, of course. You can also say "horse" when you mean "lawnmower". Hell, you can just stand there and grunt, if that's what turns you on. You'll be communicating just as effectively.

Forget women - here's what men want	That's my story and I'm stickin' to it	Verbing weirds language	irony
The Elements of Style	The residue of marriage	All your base are belong to us	Anyone with a strong opinion is wrong
Militant Grammarians of Massachusetts	Happy Rhodes	Snow Angels	why she makes her wishes at 7:07
A Firefly in November	Feeling and Thinking	The Aubonne Bridge Incident	Everything is sacred
A misplaced sense of guilt from long ago	I once was a clueless young noder	Hate crime hoaxes in American colleges	Use definite, specific, concrete language
The Chemist	He wakes up everyday, puts an empty gun in his mouth, and pulls the trigger.	There ain't no justice