An Ironic Paradox

This is a piece by Simon Varey, University of Melbourne, reproduced from "The Reasoner", vol.5, issue 10.

I was amused, so I thought I'd give you the pleasure too.

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In 1995, Alanis Morissette released the song “Ironic”. Little did she suspect she would be walking into a semantic minefield. The song proved to be a lightning rod for those pedants who had long been railing against what they saw as rampant misuse of the term ‘ironic’ in popular discourse. For comedians, possessed as they are with a heightened sense of irony, it proved a potent source of humour. What could be more ironic, they asked, than a song called “Ironic” being completely devoid of irony.

But is “Ironic” ironic, or isn’t it? ( Ironic philosophy within... )