Ironically

[Jonathan Lighter]

It's hard to tell from the brief quotes, but many of the OED exx. Larry lists seem to exemplify "paradoxically."  To my mind, paradox is rather close to various forms of classical irony.  The examples that really impress me are those, as in my previous post, that seem to have no detectable relationship to "irony" of any kind.

I suppose the fuzzy borderline betwen senses may be in the realm of "coincidentally." But would the exx. of "seismic"  imaging and of the painter who grew up in a city that later figured tangentially in one of his paintings have seemed be of any interest whatsoever if the respective comments had begun, "Coincidentally..." ?

My stupid guess is that people who use this kind of "ironically" don't understand much about "irony" and have simply absorbed the mannerism from liberal arts professors who sort of do. (Who but liberal arts profs are likely to point out many ironies in the first place?)  For users naive in the ways of literature, philosophy, and history,  "ironically" is good connector whose magic makes any sentence sound more impressive.

End of cynical comment.

JL


Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: Ironically
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>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
>
>~@:> ~@:> ~@:> ~@:>
>
>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com


---------------------------------
Yahoo! Sports
 Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football