Retirony Redux
As a result of a recent conversation on ifMud, I've decided that, while "retirony"is a perfectly cromulent word [.2 points], there is room in this universe for some more specific terms to refer to particular types of retirony:
"Retirony", as previously mentioned, describes a kind of poetic justice, best known for the phenomenon where a character in a film (usually a cop) wistfully speculates on his upcoming retirement, thereby ensuring that he will meet an untimely end in the next scene. It is, more or less, the layman's incorrect definition of "irony" that is so often used these days (It's, in fact, like Ray-ee-ain on your wedding day), not simply "a bummer", but one of those cases where a highly unlikely and unexpected thing comes to pass after it has been it has been sarcastically predicted. It's not an easy phenomenon to describe, exactly; it's tempting to dismiss it as "that's not irony; it's just a bummer." But it's more specific than "a bummer." "Ross gets hit by a meteor and killed on his way to the car," is a bummer. "Ross gets hit by a meteor and killed on his way to the car after mentioning the possibility in a blog entry," is "retirony". It's not true "irony" because I wasn't hit by a meteor as a result of steps I'd taken to prevent getting hit by a meteor -- though in a way, we *think* of it as such, because (I blame Hollywood), we have a cute unscientific notion that we can summon bad things to happen just by *wanting* them not to. We think that if we "tempt fate," fate will take the bait. I think that's why we confuse "retirony" with real irony.
So, I've decided that "retirony" refers both to the specific case of making your own demise a poetic nececessity by talking about it, and to the general case of "Making any bad thing happen by saying that it won't." Retirony is the layman's irony.
So, here's some new perfectly cromulent words to refer to things more specific:
Expirony is the retirony that kills you. It's when you say "I'll be fine unless a meteor hits me." and then it does.
Lirony is the punch-line from Sartre's The Wall. It's when you tell what you think is a lie, but it turns out to be the truth. That, or it's expirony involving lions. (LIONS!!!! [3 points])
And finally, Karmageddon is retirony that dooms the entire planet. Like when the President Of Earth insists that our new Alien Defense System is Totally Infallible.
Please spread the words and let them embiggen your vocabulary. I'll see you later, unless I get hit by a meteor.
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"Retirony", as previously mentioned, describes a kind of poetic justice, best known for the phenomenon where a character in a film (usually a cop) wistfully speculates on his upcoming retirement, thereby ensuring that he will meet an untimely end in the next scene. It is, more or less, the layman's incorrect definition of "irony" that is so often used these days (It's, in fact, like Ray-ee-ain on your wedding day), not simply "a bummer", but one of those cases where a highly unlikely and unexpected thing comes to pass after it has been it has been sarcastically predicted. It's not an easy phenomenon to describe, exactly; it's tempting to dismiss it as "that's not irony; it's just a bummer." But it's more specific than "a bummer." "Ross gets hit by a meteor and killed on his way to the car," is a bummer. "Ross gets hit by a meteor and killed on his way to the car after mentioning the possibility in a blog entry," is "retirony". It's not true "irony" because I wasn't hit by a meteor as a result of steps I'd taken to prevent getting hit by a meteor -- though in a way, we *think* of it as such, because (I blame Hollywood), we have a cute unscientific notion that we can summon bad things to happen just by *wanting* them not to. We think that if we "tempt fate," fate will take the bait. I think that's why we confuse "retirony" with real irony.
So, I've decided that "retirony" refers both to the specific case of making your own demise a poetic nececessity by talking about it, and to the general case of "Making any bad thing happen by saying that it won't." Retirony is the layman's irony.
So, here's some new perfectly cromulent words to refer to things more specific:
Expirony is the retirony that kills you. It's when you say "I'll be fine unless a meteor hits me." and then it does.
Lirony is the punch-line from Sartre's The Wall. It's when you tell what you think is a lie, but it turns out to be the truth. That, or it's expirony involving lions. (LIONS!!!! [3 points])
And finally, Karmageddon is retirony that dooms the entire planet. Like when the President Of Earth insists that our new Alien Defense System is Totally Infallible.
Please spread the words and let them embiggen your vocabulary. I'll see you later, unless I get hit by a meteor.
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