Being Mr. Kenny

Last night I watched an interview with Michael Palin. In it he described his relationship with Ernest Hemmingway’s work as “ironic”. It occurred to me, later, that I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

It was very similar to reading scientific literature or the Bible: you read something you don’t understand but you don’t realise that you’ve not understood it until someone asks you what it was about. Then it dawns on you that reading constitutes more than looking at words while you think about what you’re gonna eat, and what’s happening in Neighbours at the moment, and how cold your feet are, and isn’t this a lovely song that’s playing, and how noisy is nextdoor’s toilet cistern, and ooh I’m going to make a sandwich.

But this experience served as a small epiphany for me. I’ve only ever had a nebulous idea of what this word actually means, and I’ve not ever been able to properly pin it down. I know that modern usage is far from accurate — people describe things as “ironic” that are not, in fact, ironic at all.

For example, did you know that Alanis Morrisette’s song by the same name is ironic exactly because none of the situations she sings about are, in fact, ironic? It’s true!

Thus, in the spirit of Google, I’ve gone a quest to discover its meaning, and, as typically happens, I’ve discovered a few links in about ten seconds (halfway through writing this post) that help answer the question:

• Guardian Unlimited: The final irony — well-written, and she knows what she’s talking about
• Wikipedia’s entry — bland, as ever, but solidly neutral and informative

I shall continue the hunt, and I shall ponder these things until I have a better understanding. I suggest you do the same before you go and say that something is ironic when it isn’t. (But isn’t that what irony is?)