Alanis Morisette- "Ironic", or should it be called "Misfortune"?

[jindrak]

If you have heard the song, have you noticed that most of the occurences she mentions aren't 'ironic', but rather 'misfortunate'?

ironic- an event or result that is the opposite of what is expected.
misfortune- ill luck, chance, fate.

death row pardon, ten minutes too late=misfortune
rain on your wedding day=misfortune
free ride when your already late=misfortune
traffic jam when your alaready late=misfortune
10,000 spoons when all you need a knife=misfortune
meeting the man of your dreams, then meething his beautiful wife=misfortune
no smoking sign on cigarette break=ironic
good advice that you just didn't take=ironic

I guess you can see my reasons for why the song should be entitled "Misfortune" instead of "Ironic". The occurences aren't the opposite of what is expected, but rather just ill fate.

[el fregadero]

"Isn't it misfortunate
Don't you think?"

Doesn't have the same ring.

[The Icon of Elisim]

Welcome to 1995, you fucking asshole

[DS]

Those all sound ironic to me.

[The Outlaw]

lol tioe

[jindrak]

lol tioe

I didn't laugh. :?:

[I <3 Negros]

It's symbolism, you see it's misfortunate if you take it at face value. But if you go to the symbolism of each event then it is ironic.

[The Mask]

I'm sure some comedian has had this in his repertoire.

[I <3 Negros]

I'm sure some comedian has had this in his repertoire.
Many comedians probably do.

[Confused]

Welcome to 1995, you fucking asshole

[I <3 Negros]

Her new song isn't any better than this one.

[Confused]

I'm sure some comedian has had this in his repertoire.

Ed Byrne made many a TV appearance off the back of it. Shame he was about as funny as bowel cancer.

His material was almost as shite as the song itself.

Bizarrely he looked like Alanis Morrissette.

[I <3 Negros]

Ed Byrne made many a TV appearance off the back of it. Shame he was about as funny as bowel cancer.

His material was almost as shite as the song itself.

Bizarrely he looked like Alanis Morrissette.
I think any strung out Canadian looks either like Alanis Morrissette or Bryan Adams.

[Jonster]

Welcome to 1995, you fucking asshole
Me and my mates have had this discussion many many times over so many years I lost count, but you said 1995 so I assume 9 years.

Unlucky works better.

[Kane Knight]

Welcome to 1995, you fucking asshole

[Kane Knight]

I'm sure some comedian has had this in his repertoire.
Several do. Like 50 TV shwos have poked fun at it. It's a populary irony in and of itself. Or it was...A decade ago. ;)

[Jonster]

death row pardon, ten minutes too late = Bit of a bugger, but what do you care? You're dead.
rain on your wedding day = Whoop de fucking do, it's raining, I wouldn't care
free ride when your already late = would make you less late than walking.
traffic jam when your already late = You should've left earlier, chances are there's usually traffic jams at that time.
10,000 spoons when all you need a knife = Fucking stupid, why the hell would you have 10,000 spoons?
meeting the man of your dreams, then meeting his beautiful wife = 1) He's a dick for leading you on, or 2) You're judging him from looks alone and you're a shallow person
No smoking sign on cigarette break = Stupid. What would be the point of producing a cigarette?
good advice that you just didn't take = Stupid. If you knew it was good advice, and you didn't take it then you're an idiot.

Just pointing that out

[Kane Knight]

death row pardon, ten minutes too late=misfortune This is mostly misfortune
rain on your wedding day=misfortune Except it's expected to be a happy day, whether or not those expectations are realistic is another question. But since you're going by the most technical and anal def of the word...
free ride when your already late=misfortune That's pretty ironic in a lot of senses.
traffic jam when your alaready late=misfortune See above.
10,000 spoons when all you need a knife=misfortune Most likely misfortune
meeting the man of your dreams, then meething his beautiful wife=misfortune Let's think about this for a second. You get the perfect sort of faerie tale dream-come-true, only to find it shattered by his wife. Nope. Not irony at all. :roll:
no smoking sign on cigarette break=ironic Depends on the circumstance.
good advice that you just didn't take=ironic Good advice you don't take can be misfortune. It depends on the context, like most of these.

[Penner]

I didn't laugh. :?:
That's why he said lol about himself you fucking asshole

[Penner]

death row pardon, ten minutes too late = Bit of a bugger, but what do you care? You're dead.
rain on your wedding day = Whoop de fucking do, it's raining, I wouldn't care
free ride when your already late = would make you less late than walking.
traffic jam when your already late = You should've left earlier, chances are there's usually traffic jams at that time.
10,000 spoons when all you need a knife = Fucking stupid, why the hell would you have 10,000 spoons?
meeting the man of your dreams, then meeting his beautiful wife = 1) He's a dick for leading you on, or 2) You're judging him from looks alone and you're a shallow person
No smoking sign on cigarette break = Stupid. What would be the point of producing a cigarette?
good advice that you just didn't take = Stupid. If you knew it was good advice, and you didn't take it then you're an idiot.

Just pointing that out
lol wtf

[Joeleosis]

I remember this topic... like four years ago, when Moonax brought it up.

[Kane Knight]

Too bad Moonax didn't fully understand it either.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Unfortunate.

And Ed Byrne is STILL using that routine, several years later. He really is a dickhead.

[Kane Knight]

Yeah, I'm sure a bunch of people are milking that shit.

[soconnor]

LOL I remember Ed Byrne doing that shit

Comedy gold there

[jindrak]

Actually this was first brought up to my atention from my 8th grade English teacher who was trying to illustrate examples of irony. In the case she used, my teacher used the song to show how some of the verses aren't necessarily ironic, but rather misfortune.

[Kane Knight]

And English teachers are never wrong, especially in circumstances that are subjective.

[jindrak]

^^Well, it was an interesting topic in class, especially because she used an example everyone was familiar with.

[Kane Knight]

I don't think I've ever actually heard the song.

[Moonax]

Too bad Moonax didn't fully understand it either.

You have a weaker grasp of the facts than George W Bush has of the english language.

Never mind, call someone a Nazi and post a topic about yourself and I'm sure you'll feel better.

[Hollywood Red]

Ed Byrne was/is that long-haired (I saw him recently, he cut it) Irish (maybe not, I'm bad with accents) comedian?

[Kane Knight]

You have a weaker grasp of the facts than George W Bush has of the english language.
And you would know. The difference between you and GW in terms of language skills is that one understands that he's a retard, and the other hides behind misuse of big words and latin.

Mmmmmm...Moonaxsonglow.mp3...

[Moonax]

Given your sentence construction in that last post it is highly ironic for you to criticise my linguistic skills.

[Kane Knight]

What linguistic skills?

[Moonax]

The skills that enable me to recognise something as being ironic. Skills relating to the use of language that you obviously lack.