Ironically

Wed Jun 29 01:44:53 UTC 2005

While sagehen's analysis of the Armstrong ex. is theoretically possible, it strikes me as quite unlikely in this case. Seeing and hearing the exchange on live TV, I did not get the sense that either Brian Kilmead (the interviewer) or Lance Armstrong was referring to any unfavorable connotations of the color yellow.  Armstrong seemed to think that it was "ironic" (however one chooses to define it) that there really were people who earned their living by studying colors and "what colors mean to people."

Nothing in either speaker's intonation, facial expression, or body language (e.g., a raised eyebrow or half-smile) suggested that the yellow might be taken unfavorably  It was not the color yellow that seemed to me to be the source of the "irony."

Somewhere OED has a cite I sent in nearly ten years ago which, as I recall, went something like this:

"Paleontologists have named the new species of dinosaur 'Seismosaurus.'  It may have been the largest creature ever to ewalk the earth.  Ironically, the technique scientists used to discover the bones is called 'seismic imaging.'"

Maybe Jesse can favor us with the accurate quotation.

Here's another (reconstructed) example from about the same time. An in-flight consumers' catalogue was offering for sale high-quality prints of an aviation painting that depicted a vintage DC-3 turning on its approach to an airport in the 1930s or '40s.  The airport, if I remember correctly, had some special connection with the DC-3; let's say it was Atlanta.  The ad's caption read something like, "Ironically, [the artist] was born in Atlanta."

It impressed me because there seemed to be no conceivable sort of irony in the fact, but the adverb did serve to make pure coincidence or trivial artistic destiny sound like something significant.

JL

Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: Ironically
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>I dunno, Alison. I hear sentence-initial "ironically" all the time
>on live TV, and it rarely seems to draw attention to any real
>"irony."
>
>Here's another ex., if I may paraphrase. (Have I posted this
>before?) One local news reporter is introduced as having "come to
>us from KRAP in Salt Lake City." Then he introduces a second
>reporter by saying, "And joining the Action News Team for the frst
>time tonight is Susie Newsie. Ironically, Susie grew up in Salt Lake
>City."
>
>Ironic ? Or just surprisingly coincidental ? We report, etc.
>
>JL

I would actually distinguish between your case, which is indeed
glossable as 'surprisingly coincidental[ly]' (or maybe just
'coincidentally') and has been around for awhile, and the
Alison/Lance cite, which is I think a still nother extension or
broadening. I've been hearing the former use of "ironically" for
some time; the latter I can't even begin to figure out.

L

P.S. Note the draft addition to the OED entry; I guess this entry
subscribes to Jon's view that these extended uses ('curiously' as
well as 'coincidentally') are all of a piece. I'm not sure what I
would make of all these entries, though; some seem to be in the
spirit of the traditional meaning, others may not be, but in some
cases additional context would be needed to determine if (classical)
irony is involved.

ironically, adv.
In weakened, typically parenthetical use, often opening a sentence:
paradoxically, curiously, unexpectedly, coincidentally.

1907 E. WHARTON Fruit of Tree II. xii. 187 He had done very little
with the opportunity... What he had done with it..had landed him,
ironically enough, in the ugly impasse of a situation from which no
issue seemed possible.
1947 Life 17 Nov. 11/2 One of the chief reasons for this marked-down
bonanza is, ironically, the fact that Peru is economically less
self-sufficient than many countries.
1968 Etc. June 186 Ironically, it will be the lower-class male who is
most likely to be the first to achieve the freudian concept of sexual
maturity.
1974 W. FOLEY Child in Forest II. ii. 84 My new master had..a
patronising distaste for servants, and all the 'lower orders'.
Ironically, he had married 'beneath him'.
1986 Today 9 July 9/1 The Yard was responding to claims that a
Caribbean gang--ironically called The Yardies--has moved into
London's Brixton area. 1997 B. ROWLANDS Which? Guide to Complementary
Med. 153 Homeopaths believe that this succussion confers the
therapeutic effect on the solution and that, ironically, the weaker
the solution the more effective it is.

>sagehen wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: sagehen
>Subject: Re: Ironically
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>Here's a paradigm case of "ironically" used to mean "surprisingly" (or
>>maybe even "actually"?)with no evident "irony" intended.
>>
>>Lance Armstrong was being interviewed on _Fox & Friends_ about the coming
>>Tour de France and about a new Nike running shoe named after him.
>>
>>"And what is the meaning of this yellow stripe on the [side of the] shoe?"
>>
>>"Ironically, there are people who study color and what colors mean to
>>people, and the yellow represents [the color of my jersey]."
>>
>>JL
>~~~~~~~~
>Probably Armstrong meant to draw attention to the irony of using a yellow
>stripe -- symbol of cowardice -- as a feature of a product that was
>supposed to benefit from association with his presumably courageous
>pursuit of his outstanding achievements.
>AM
>
>~@:> ~@:> ~@:> ~@:>
>
>
>
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