Verbal Irony
Verbal Irony
Verbal irony is perhaps the most commonly used type of irony in everyday life. It is more commonly called “sarcasm”. Verbal irony can be found in everyday life and also in literary. Verbal irony is when a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning. A couple of examples are: soft like concrete and as pleasant as a root canal. The irony in these can quickly be discovered as concrete is obviously not soft and a root canal is obviously painful. People use verbal irony is used every day. Yesterday, as we were walking out of the house to go to the doctor, my step mom noticed she had a flat tire. She said, “That’s just great!” Any person can figure out that having a flat tire when you are trying to go somewhere is definitely not great. She was using sarcasm or verbal irony. Another example of verbal irony that I have witnessed in my life was used by my youth pastor. Every Wednesday before we started our lesson we would all play a game. After explaining the game he would always say, “Clear as mud?” Mud is obviously not clear. Therefor he was using verbal irony. Literature is a full of verbal irony. For example, in Act III of Scene V, of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is irritated by her father’s decision to hand her over to marry Paris whom she does not love instead of Romeo whom she does love. She expresses her desire to her mother using verbal irony by saying that she was not going to marry yet, but when she will marry it will be to Romeo whom she hates. Another example in verbal irony is in Shrek. Donkey tries to compromise with Shrek about sharing Shrek’s land. Shrek replies to Donkey’s proposal by saying, “Of course!” Yet when Donkey says, “Really?” Shrek says no. He was being verbally ironic. Verbal irony is when a person says one thing but means the opposite. As it is better known as sarcasm, it is perhaps the most commonly used type of irony.
Verbal irony is perhaps the most commonly used type of irony in everyday life. It is more commonly called “sarcasm”. Verbal irony can be found in everyday life and also in literary. Verbal irony is when a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning. A couple of examples are: soft like concrete and as pleasant as a root canal. The irony in these can quickly be discovered as concrete is obviously not soft and a root canal is obviously painful. People use verbal irony is used every day. Yesterday, as we were walking out of the house to go to the doctor, my step mom noticed she had a flat tire. She said, “That’s just great!” Any person can figure out that having a flat tire when you are trying to go somewhere is definitely not great. She was using sarcasm or verbal irony. Another example of verbal irony that I have witnessed in my life was used by my youth pastor. Every Wednesday before we started our lesson we would all play a game. After explaining the game he would always say, “Clear as mud?” Mud is obviously not clear. Therefor he was using verbal irony. Literature is a full of verbal irony. For example, in Act III of Scene V, of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is irritated by her father’s decision to hand her over to marry Paris whom she does not love instead of Romeo whom she does love. She expresses her desire to her mother using verbal irony by saying that she was not going to marry yet, but when she will marry it will be to Romeo whom she hates. Another example in verbal irony is in Shrek. Donkey tries to compromise with Shrek about sharing Shrek’s land. Shrek replies to Donkey’s proposal by saying, “Of course!” Yet when Donkey says, “Really?” Shrek says no. He was being verbally ironic. Verbal irony is when a person says one thing but means the opposite. As it is better known as sarcasm, it is perhaps the most commonly used type of irony.