h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Researcher astutely pointed out that every alleged example of irony in the song "Ironic" isn't. This suggests one of two possibilities:

Either Alanis Morissette is a bloody stupid idiot, and can't use a dictionary, but can dress in tight clothes well enough to parade all over MTV.

Or, she is a literary genius. The lyrics of her song referred heavily to irony, all without any of them actually being an example of irony. This is a little ironic. The title makes it very ironic. Perhaps she actually was aware of this, and chose the title "Ironic", knowing the song wasn't AT ALL, which in turn makes it very, very ironic.

Don't you think?

Yeah, I really do think.

Why not see if you can come up with lyrics of your own. Then you'll know how much skill is needed.
http://www.brunching.com/toys/toy-alanislyrics.html

So that's how she does it! Not ironic at all, is it? Just checking....

I remember reading in a lit book about something called tragic irony (maybe also called situational irony). Seems to me that the lottery winning guy example fits. Unless of course the situation has to be trumped up to something like 'a man who played the lottery his whole entire life, to the loss of every other good thing in his life finally wins and gets killed when a lotto card machine falls on him when he turns in his ticket.' For a subtle art, it seems odd that fitting examples have to go so overboard. What's the difference between Murphy's Law, Irony, and life just being its cruel self? Or is it a case of some literary scholars having differing opinions on whether it is ironic when life adds insult to injury? And please, speak slowly to the American girl .