What is irony?

Roz's Random Ramblings: Language, History, and Other Adventu... by Roz Hirch
S1 · E13
Jul 20, 2026
20:14

Episode notes

The ironic thing is... We use or hear this phrase every day, but have you ever been told that you're using it incorrectly? And how can that be? You've heard it used this way before. In this episode, I take a look at what the word irony means in use, and why you probably aren't using it wrong at all. Also, how you should react to people who correct you (whatever). Accompanied by my usual tangential trips to other areas of language, including a leisurely drift down a lazy river in an attempt to cool off, this episode hopefully informs and entertains.

Keywords

Linguistics
History
Proto-Indo-European
Language
Spelling
English
Semantic Drift
Semantic Change
Irony
Pragmatics