Why is there such a misunderstanding of the word "irony"?

[Legion]

I keep forgetting what it means, I thourght it ment like

if I'm with somone at a macdonalds and I say "that shit'll kill you" and then I light up a cigarette

If you said that and lit up a cigarette with the intention of it being funny then yes, that'd be ironic humour. Although like the OP, it's not the general meaning of it.

 

[Rastien]

Irony often confused with comedic coincidence.

 

[Paladin2905]

Like a lot of words, I think that irony has come to encompass both the classical definition of using words expressing something than their literal intention (thanks bender) and the more modern one of comedic coincidence. Doesn't mean either definition is wrong; the point is that languages do evolve over time and that is a good thing- unless we want the word "clue" to revert to meaning "ball of thread".

 

[Lilani]

I just got done with a small comment war about the definition of irony on youtube (I don't know why I ever actually got involved, but whatever) and I was wondering why there seems to be such a discrepancy in beliefs about what the word means. Its not like its some word that has come to use in the past few years or so and features heavily in most english courses. I've always understood it as "a result that is counter-intuitive to the cause, and therefore is funny." Is that wrong? Or are others just uninformed/stupid?

Also, for extra content, post your best example of irony you can think of.

Captcha: by the book

If only more people worked that way, captcha, if only...

I think it's sort of like how people misuse the word "literally." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk5l748-vF0] They hear it used at some point to describe something, and from there try to assume its meaning. Sometimes they misunderstand, and so they run around using it the wrong way. Then that incorrect usage spreads to other people through their usage, until somebody who knows better hears and bothers to correct them. But if this misunderstanding takes root in someplace like a school, then you end up with nearly an entire generation using the word incorrectly.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

This topic desperately needs the expert opinion of the Oatmeal [http://theoatmeal.com/comics/irony] (has handy illustrations, too).

In most cases it's just a matter of both parties arguing not knowing what irony is, or one does and acts like a prick. More or less that's how irony is used.

To expand on that Oatmeal comic: nine times out of ten, someone saying "that's not ironic" is unaware of one or more of the forms of irony (which are situational, dramatic, and verbal.) It's usually situational irony that they lack an understanding of. Probably dramatic irony too, but nobody ever talks about that outside of highschool lit classes when covering Shakespeare. So yes, ironically, the person who is most likely to correct you on your use of irony is someone who doesn't understand how it works himself.