Writing Tip #5

Distinguish coincidence from irony.

Sometimes I see people use the word “ironic” in a way that could be understood as a “very coincidental.” Allow me to address.

Maybe it’s a big coincidence that University of Notre Dame mathematicians Arthur and Larry both married someone named Gisele. But, it’s not ironic. Irony demands an expectation.

While they may be surprising, coincidences are random events with no clear causal links. While an ironic event might also be surprising, irony presupposes an expectation, one that is not met. With coincidence there is no expected outcome.

There’s nothing ironic about the fact that farmers Marge and Nancy both like blueberries on their breakfast cereal. We had no expectation in that regard. It’s a coincidence.

Irony, and here I’m speaking of the situational type, is when something happens that is the opposite of what one expects. It’s ironic for persons in the law enforcement field to murder people in the course of their duties. That remains something that we should not expect. It’s a coincidence if in two cases where that occurs both perpetrators married someone named Gisele.

There are two types of irony in addition to situational. It’s verbal irony when someone says the opposite of what they mean. The audience has to “get it,” though.

On the most miserable winter day of the year someone says, “Nice day, huh?” to their companion who recognizes that no, it is not. Being in on a joke is an aspect of familiarity allows irony to operate.

“Getting it” is true, also, for dramatic irony which refers to a character in a portrayal not knowing what the audience knows. For the umpteenth time stage character Soupy Sales is going to get a pie in the face when he opens the stage wall door, and everyone in the audience should know it. Soupy does not.

Recognizing irony requires an understanding of context and an ability to think on a figurative plane, not literal. Recognizing coincidence requires only the former. Might a difficulty in recognizing a difference between coincidence and irony be a sign of literal mindedness? Might my own literal mindedness be the source of my insistence on not confusing the figurative irony with the literal coincidence? Yikes. Tough questions. On occasion I’ve noticed that “paradox” and recognizing the inadequacy of language are keys to enlightenment.

There is a lot to be considered in thinking about the concepts of figurative and literal, but for the purpose of this essay allow me to say again that coincidence and irony are not the same and it’s good to know the difference.