"ironically" again

[Jonathan Lighter]

It's a nearly endemic non sequitur to say that because meaning change is natural (and usually unstoppable) all changes of meaning are 1) innocuous and/or 2) of no interest. "Participating in meaning change is not a defect" is roughly like saying "If a species can't compete, it goes extinct. So what? It happens all the time."  The erosion of significant meanings is not the same as a species extinction, but "natural processes" aren't necessarily benign and are rarely void of interest.

  It's a historical fact that people who use "ironically" as a vague connective are displaying a poor understanding of the word's semantics. The usage may go way back as a lapsus linguae, or in the vocabularies of pretentious people who don't know what they're talking about. But it is observable that the usage is proliferating among people (like journalists) who are well educated by ordinary standards and who are paid to at least appear to know what they're talking about.

  Those are simple descriptive statements and empirically verifiable. The fact that words change their meanings is beside the point.

  JL


David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: David Bowie
Subject: Re: "ironically" again
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From: Jonathan Lighter

> The defect is in the reporter's understanding of the standard meaning
> of the word "ironically."...

Somebody participating in meaning change is not a defect, it's a natural
linguistic change. "Ironically" is in the process of meaning change, and
the sentence under discussion reflects that.



> There was NO suggestion IN THE REPORTER'S STORY of any kind of irony
> in the fact or manner of Irwin's death...

No suggestion of *classical* irony, sure. However, there most certainly
was a weird twist to the story. To rephrase what i wrote before in a
hopefully clearer manner, Steve Irwin had built a reputation on being
bulletproof around dangerous animals. A few days ago, we all discovered
that he wasn't bulletproof. Therefore, irony.



Of course, myself, i *still* don't understand what's ironic about ten
thousand spoons when all you need is a knife, but these things happen.

--
David Bowie http://pmpkn.net/lx
Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.

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