America

2007-07-02T00:25:25Z

Urlyn13:

The term '''America''' can refer to:
*The [[United States of America]] - one nation within the [[Americas]], and the only one using "America" in its name, whose decadence and greed are currently destroying the world.
*The [[Americas]] - the two continents of the Western Hemisphere + associated islands
**[[North America]]
**[[South America]]
**The [[Caribbean]]
**[[Central America]]
{{Disambiguation}}
[[Category:Disambiguation Pages]]

Irony

2007-07-02T00:23:08Z

Urlyn13:

Irony is an implied discrepancy between what is said or done and what is meant or expected to happen.

The term is is commonly used in U.S. English to refer to a type of [[rhetoric]] whereby a statement or assertion is made with the intention to put across the opposite meaning. E.g. "Oh I ''really'' like your coat." In British English this is more commonly referred to as [[sarcasm]]. Whether a particular statement is construed as irony or sarcasm can often be a matter of opinion. The Sarcasm Society <ref> http://www.sarcasmsociety.com/howtorecognizeirony/</ref> offers the following distinction:
:'''Sarcasm ''' can be illustrated by the speaker saying, "I appreciate your help.", when no help was provided to the speaker. However, when the speaker says speaker says, "It was a bit cold.", after losing a leg due to frost bite, this understatement can be construed as '''irony'''.

It might be useful to distinguish three kinds of irony <ref> definition adapted from: http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/irony.html</ref>:

'''Verbal irony''', when an author says one thing and means something else. This is sometimes called 'Socratic Irony' and is used by teachers pretending to be foolish or ignorant, to expose the ignorance of another.

'''Dramatic irony''', when an audience perceives something that a character in literature does not know. The effect can be tragic, such as in '[[Romeo & Juliet]]', where the fate of the characters is sealed at the start of the play, or comedic, such as in '[[Twelfth Night]]' where Malvolio is duped by Maria and Toby. Such irony can work in reverse, where some characters in drama understand their actions, but the audience is duped into thinking something else. Such is the situation in [[The Village]], or [[The Sixth Sense]].

'''Irony of situation''', a discrepency between the expected result and actual results. An example of this definition of ''irony'' might be a boxer betting his life savings on a fight he expects to lose, and then accidentally winning the fight.

The current situation is further clouded by the fact that literature, cinema, fashion and behaviour can now be described as [[post irony|post ironic]]. This term is often used when a statement is made which is insulting, and which potentially could be true, is not meant as an insult. An example of this is being asked "Does my bum look big in this?", and replying: "It's looks bigger than an elephant's". This taken on face value could be seen to be insulting. However the implication here is that this latter statement is ironic, and no insult is intended. The problem with post irony is that it is often difficult to distinguish between fashion gaffs, insults and poor literature and attempts to be 'cool', 'subtle', and 'sophisticated'. <ref> For further clarification on this see the urban dictionary definition at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=post-ironic </ref>

Another example of irony is this: in order to counteract the liberal-biased media, a conservative-biased encyclopedia was created.

The following statement which appeared in the original version of the article can also be construed as irony:

"Something made of, or largely composed of, [[iron]] can be described as ''irony''.
<nowiki>[[Category:Chemistry]]</nowiki>"

==References==

<references/>

Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

America

Irony