this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2025
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My understanding, from how people use it here is that irony is a situation which is a contrast between the expected/intended and actual outcome.
It's ironic when a fire station burns down
This definition is truly upsetting: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irony
Americans, no. Bad Americans.
This definition is correct (until we come up with a good substitute, FFS America): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony
Glad Wikipedia agrees with me on this one haha We'll at least the introductory definition.
Edit: to answer your question. I dunno. I just think this form of "ironic" just didn't take off in Australia.
Mostly because we already have words for what Americans use it for. And don't have words to replace irony.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hi, American checking in. I was taught in English class in high school that irony is an ambulance running people over, not just sarcasm. I do agree that colloquially (and I am probably guilty of it too) we Americans use the word "irony" to talk about things being presented in a non-genuine and earnest manner, to talk about sarcasm and snark and parody.
This is a relief, there is hope yet haha
I did just remember more from English class: Verbal irony, a type of irony, fits the colloquial definition of sarcasm ("oh, just great" when something upsetting happens). (According to https://literarydevices.net/verbal-irony/ sarcasm is verbal irony used to mock or insult. Don't 100% remember what they said about sarcasm vs verbal irony in English class.) The irony being talked about here is situational irony. It seems people colloquially use "irony" for "situational irony" and get upset when it gets used to refer to the sarcastic type of "verbal irony"