Isn't it Ironic? Maybe Not.
- Cully Perlman
- Sep 3
- 5 min read
I was listening to the radio the other day (or, rather, in a store where they had the radio on, as I listen almost exclusively to digital versions of my 70s, 80s, and 90s CDs), and Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic” started playing. I’d long known of the argument that many of the examples of irony in the song aren’t actually irony, e.g., “a black fly in your Chardonnay,” “a traffic jam when you’re already late,” “a death row pardon two minutes too late,” “a free ride when you’ve already paid,” and so on. My daughter, who’s much more intelligent than I am, noticed the issue about two seconds in. “That’s not ironic,” she said, which 1) made me proud how quickly she picked up on the error, and 2) made me wonder how the lack of irony in those lines was allowed to make it past whoever was in charge of making sure the examples in the song were, indeed, ironic. I thought, Isn't it Ironic? Maybe Not.
All of this led me to a question: what other words exist out there, in particular in literature, that tend to be misunderstood. Here are some I found. *
Simile - An indirect comparison between two different things using the words "like" or "as". An example would be, “His hands were as large as catcher’s mitts.” (It also happens to be an exaggeration.)
Hyperbole - An exaggeration of a statement for emphasis or effect. An example would be, “It took me a week to walk three New York blocks.”
Irony - A contrast between what is said and what is actually meant, or a situation that turns out to be the opposite of what is expected. An example would be [t]he Titanic was deemed "unsinkable" by its designers and engineers, a testament to human ingenuity and technological progress. The twist: The ship sank on its maiden voyage after striking an iceberg.”
Metaphor - A direct comparison between two unlike things without using "like" or "as". People, writers included, often confuse metaphor and simile. An example of a metaphor: “Life is a highway.”
Alliteration - The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words in a phrase or sentence. For example, "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." I find alliteration everywhere, and when I do, I always wonder if it’s the writer’s intention to use alliteration or just happenstance.
Allusion - A brief, indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance. An example of an allusion is “He went down the rabbit hole.” We know what it means, but the allusion comes from Alice in Wonderland (Alice literally falls down a rabbit hole, entering a fantastical new world). I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of people confuse allusion and illusion.
For clarity, if you haven’t already picked up on it, there are three types of irony: Situational irony, Verbal irony, and Dramatic irony.
They can be defined as follows:
Situation irony: In situational irony, there is a contrast between what is expected to happen and what actually occurs.
Verbal irony: Verbal irony occurs when a speaker says the opposite of what they mean. Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony that is typically intended to mock or insult.
Dramatic irony: In dramatic irony, the audience or reader knows a crucial piece of information that one or more of the characters does not.
Now let’s jump out of literature and into the every day, because there are some words I hear and have heard throughout my life that drive me up a wall (see what I did there?).
Homophones (Sound Alike)*
A/An/And - A or an are articles, while and is a conjunction. (My brain explodes every time someone puts “a” in front of a vowel.
Accept/Except - Accept means to receive, while except means "but" or "other than".
Affect/Effect - Affect is a verb (to influence); effect is usually a noun (the result). (I find this one to be a super common mistake).
By/Buy - By is a preposition, and buy means to purchase.
Capital/Capitol - Capital is the city or a letter, while the capitol is a building.
Complement/Compliment - A complement completes something, while a compliment is praise.
Its/It's - Its is possessive (e.g., the cat chased its tail), while it's is a contraction of "it is" or "it has". (Once or twice in a manuscript, I’ll let fly as typos. Consistent use? You don’t know the difference between the two).
Loose/Lose - Loose means not tight; lose means to misplace or fail. (Having been born and raised for most of my life in Miami, Florida, you hear this one incessantly).
Than/Then - Than is for comparison, and then refers to time.
There/Their/They're - There refers to a place; their is possessive; they're is a contraction of "they are".
To/Too/Two - To is a preposition, too means "also," and two is the number.
Who/Whom - Who is a subject pronoun, while whom is an object pronoun. (I think everyone on the planet except grammar nerds get this one correct).
Whose/Who's - Whose is possessive; who's is a contraction of "who is".
Your/You're - Your is possessive; you're is a contraction of "you are". (Read anything. Anything. That has more than a couple “your” or “you’res” in it and you’ll find the error. Especially nowadays).
Advice/Advise - Advice is a noun, while advise is a verb.
Breath/Breathe - Breath is a noun (the air), and breathe is a verb (to inhale/exhale).
Principle/Principal - A principle is a rule or belief, while the principal is a person or the main part.
Farther/Further – farther refers to distance, while further means “additional” or “more.”
There are plenty of other words that sound the same (homophones) or are spelled the same but have different meanings (homonyms), but the above should give you a good starting point for understanding and identifying words that are commonly confused or misused. And last but not least: A homograph is a word with the same spelling as another word but with a different meaning, origin, and sometimes pronunciation. For example, "bass" (a fish) and "bass" (a musical instrument) are homographs; they are spelled the same but have different meanings and pronunciations.* I don’t know about you, but I can never, even after years of struggling to get it right, use the words lay/lie/lain correctly.
Anyway, in my experience, getting any of these wrong once isn’t a big deal, but consistently using the wrong word in anything—correspondence at work, emails, letters, and especially in published works, is a huge turnoff for not only writers but the public in general. If you aren’t sure about a word, look it up. You don’t need to flip through a giant dictionary anymore; google it or look the word up in an online dictionary or even Wikipedia. But don’t wing it. Poor grammar and word usage is a reflection on one person: you. And if you’re seeking publication, you want to have zero errors, so if you aren’t going to spend the time ensuring you’re using words correctly, leave them out.
*Definitions and examples are courtesy of Google.
Cully Perlman is author of a novel, The Losses. He can be reached at Cully@novelmasterclass.com
Within a minute, the plane was minute.