What’s up with “irony” and “paradox”?

Let’s take a look at paradox.

Irony is one of the most misunderstood (and misused) terms in English.

Basically, irony is the contrast between expectation and outcome.

Unfortunately, numerous people think that “irony” is the same thing as “humor,” “coincidence,” or “bad timing.” This misunderstanding is due, in part, to the influence of Alanis Morissette and “Ironic,” her hit song from 1996.

In the song, Morissette sings about several so-called “ironic” scenarios, none of which are ironic at all. It is, in fact, ironic that a song called “Ironic” has no valid examples of irony.

There is nothing intrinsically ironic about rain falling on someone’s wedding day; it’s happened before, and it will happen again. It can happen to anyone, and when it does happen, we can dismiss it as bad luck, bad timing, and an unfortunate coincidence.

It is ironic because you went beyond the call of duty to pick a date on which it was virtually guaranteed that it wouldn’t rain … and it turned out to be the only day it rained during that month. Ironically, if you had picked a random day, your wedding might not have been ruined.

Clearly, the outcome was the opposite of what was expected.

(Totoro in the rain GIF source: Catma Sutra)