full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Christopher Warner: Situational irony The opposite of what you think
Unscramble the Blue Letters
and face-plants into the cake. Your firned doubles over with laughter and says, "It's so ridiculous! So ironic!" Well, quick, what do you do? Do you laugh along with the lgauh track and let this grievous misinterpretation of irony go? Or, do you throw caution to the wind and explain the true maneing of irony? If you're me, you choose the latter. Unfortunately, irony has been completely misunderstood. We tend to throw out that term whenever we see something funny or coincidental. And while many examples of true irony can be funny, that is not the driving factor of being ironic. A situation is only ironic if what happens is the exact opposite of what was expected. If you expect A, but get B, then you have irony. Let's take the slap-stick cake situation as an example. When someone walks in precariously balancing something that shouldn't be caerrid alone, trips, falls, and makes a mess, it is funny, but it's not ironic. In fact, you probably expect someone who is single-handedly carrying a huge cake to trip. When he does, reality aginls with expectations, and so that is not irony. But what if the sassy sidekick walked in wearing a gold meadl that he'd won at the cake walking event at the attnlaa Olympics in 1996? What if that sidekick was a professional cake carrier? Then, maybe there would have been a rlaeobanse expectation that he would have been more skilled when crynairg a ridiculously large cake. Then, when that reasonable expectation was not met by the tripping siikdcek, iorny would have been exemplified. Another example. A snoeir citizen texting and blnggiog. The common and reasonable expectation of more mature men and women is that they don't like or know technology, that they have a hard time tnriung on a computer, or that they have the old brick cell phones from the 1980s. One should not expect them to be connected, high-tech, or savvy enough to text or to be blogging, which must seem like some sort of newfangled thing that "back in my day," they never had. So when Granny pulls out her smart phone to post pictures of her dentures or her grandkids, irony esneus. Reasonable expectations of the sutaiiotn are not met. That is irony. So while the cake dropper might not be ironic, there are all kinds of situations in life that are. Go out, and find those true eapxmels of irony.
Open Cloze
and face-plants into the cake. Your ______ doubles over with laughter and says, "It's so ridiculous! So ironic!" Well, quick, what do you do? Do you laugh along with the _____ track and let this grievous misinterpretation of irony go? Or, do you throw caution to the wind and explain the true _______ of irony? If you're me, you choose the latter. Unfortunately, irony has been completely misunderstood. We tend to throw out that term whenever we see something funny or coincidental. And while many examples of true irony can be funny, that is not the driving factor of being ironic. A situation is only ironic if what happens is the exact opposite of what was expected. If you expect A, but get B, then you have irony. Let's take the slap-stick cake situation as an example. When someone walks in precariously balancing something that shouldn't be _______ alone, trips, falls, and makes a mess, it is funny, but it's not ironic. In fact, you probably expect someone who is single-handedly carrying a huge cake to trip. When he does, reality ______ with expectations, and so that is not irony. But what if the sassy sidekick walked in wearing a gold _____ that he'd won at the cake walking event at the _______ Olympics in 1996? What if that sidekick was a professional cake carrier? Then, maybe there would have been a __________ expectation that he would have been more skilled when ________ a ridiculously large cake. Then, when that reasonable expectation was not met by the tripping ________, _____ would have been exemplified. Another example. A ______ citizen texting and ________. The common and reasonable expectation of more mature men and women is that they don't like or know technology, that they have a hard time _______ on a computer, or that they have the old brick cell phones from the 1980s. One should not expect them to be connected, high-tech, or savvy enough to text or to be blogging, which must seem like some sort of newfangled thing that "back in my day," they never had. So when Granny pulls out her smart phone to post pictures of her dentures or her grandkids, irony ______. Reasonable expectations of the _________ are not met. That is irony. So while the cake dropper might not be ironic, there are all kinds of situations in life that are. Go out, and find those true ________ of irony.
Solution
- meaning
- atlanta
- medal
- examples
- ensues
- carrying
- aligns
- reasonable
- senior
- situation
- blogging
- laugh
- sidekick
- friend
- turning
- carried
- irony
Original Text
and face-plants into the cake. Your friend doubles over with laughter and says, "It's so ridiculous! So ironic!" Well, quick, what do you do? Do you laugh along with the laugh track and let this grievous misinterpretation of irony go? Or, do you throw caution to the wind and explain the true meaning of irony? If you're me, you choose the latter. Unfortunately, irony has been completely misunderstood. We tend to throw out that term whenever we see something funny or coincidental. And while many examples of true irony can be funny, that is not the driving factor of being ironic. A situation is only ironic if what happens is the exact opposite of what was expected. If you expect A, but get B, then you have irony. Let's take the slap-stick cake situation as an example. When someone walks in precariously balancing something that shouldn't be carried alone, trips, falls, and makes a mess, it is funny, but it's not ironic. In fact, you probably expect someone who is single-handedly carrying a huge cake to trip. When he does, reality aligns with expectations, and so that is not irony. But what if the sassy sidekick walked in wearing a gold medal that he'd won at the cake walking event at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996? What if that sidekick was a professional cake carrier? Then, maybe there would have been a reasonable expectation that he would have been more skilled when carrying a ridiculously large cake. Then, when that reasonable expectation was not met by the tripping sidekick, irony would have been exemplified. Another example. A senior citizen texting and blogging. The common and reasonable expectation of more mature men and women is that they don't like or know technology, that they have a hard time turning on a computer, or that they have the old brick cell phones from the 1980s. One should not expect them to be connected, high-tech, or savvy enough to text or to be blogging, which must seem like some sort of newfangled thing that "back in my day," they never had. So when Granny pulls out her smart phone to post pictures of her dentures or her grandkids, irony ensues. Reasonable expectations of the situation are not met. That is irony. So while the cake dropper might not be ironic, there are all kinds of situations in life that are. Go out, and find those true examples of irony.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
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reasonable expectation |
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sassy sidekick |
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Important Words
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