Have you ever found yourself about to say “that’s ironic,” only to stop yourself – unsure whether you were using the word correctly? If you’re like most people, you probably know irony when you see it ...

In fairness to Alanis, pop singers and Canadians aren’t the only ones who struggle to understand irony. There’s an entire line of cognitive research dedicated to understanding the concept (as well as ...

Irony has a special place in the human psyche. Otherwise mundane concepts suddenly come to life when they’re recognized to have an ironic quality. British comedian David Mitchell captures this ...

The American 1990s saw the rise of a second popular eschatological vision, one primarily socioeconomic but no less millenarian in temper than the vision offered by “Left Behind.” In the fall of 1989, ...

Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. A father and daughter were deep in discussion over breakfast at a diner. “That’s not irony, that’s sarcasm,” the father ...

Two-hundred-something years ago, after the earnestly murderous trials of the French Revolution, irony appeared on the cobblestoned streets of Paris. Young aristocratic men called Incroyables took to ...

On September 18, 2001, Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, declared, “I think it’s the end of the age of irony.” He was trashed for the sentiment. Only a month after the event, Michiko Kakutani ...

“Do you know how unusual it is to see someone doing something that’s so open and honest and weird and you’re not making fun of them in your mind?” Hannah, Girls Wampole claims that the hipster ...

In her 1996 hit “Ironic,” Alanis Morissette famously sings that irony is “like rain on your wedding day” and “a black fly in your chardonnay.” Sorry ...

“The Irony of Fate” is a turn-of-the-year TV tradition that endures even in households that are now wary of Russian culture. By Valeriya Safronova When the film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!