Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Ironic Poll

Which of the following most closely reflects the proper definition of 'ironic'?
Winning the lottery and dying the next day
A death row pardon 2 minutes too late
A free ride when you've already paid
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
Ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Yes, none of them is correct. But which is closest? This is a serious question.

32 comments:

Eric Stephen said...

This is hilarious. Well done.

I voted for the death row pardon. didn't want to do it; felt I owed it to them.

Steve K said...

I don't think I can bring myself to vote on this one... sorry.

Nostradamus said...

That's awesome.

MR.F said...

I feel that the first two (lotto/death row pardon) are entirely bad luck and don't have much of anything to do with.... differences of expectation. So I'm surprised that 1 and 2 are leading. I will have to read up on irony on wikipedia...

Eric Karros said...

Personally I think it's either cigarette break or 10,000 spoons. Here's my argument:

-Cigarette break because you are specifically prohibited from doing what the entire point of your break is.

-10,000 spoons because not only can you not find a knife when you really need one, but there is a ridiculous surplus of a closely associated object, the spoon.

So they're both more than general bummers, there's some true polar conflict. I believe there's some valid element of irony in both.

Jason said...

Is it ironic that I actually expected this poll to be about real irony?

MR.F said...

EK goes into detail at what I was attempting to hint at.

Jason said...

EK - If you were given a giant box labeled "forks" while needing a fork then opened it to find 10,000 spoons, that might be ironic. Or a bad case of quality control issues. Either one.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

The first two are bad luck, as Mr. F said. Having spoons when you need knives is not ironic. Irony is the opposite of what you expect.

Kyle Baker said...

Spoons. Gotta be the spoons. Well articulated by EK.

MR.F said...

Yeah, Jason, but if that's what line in the song was, that option wouldn't be in the poll now would it?

Jason said...

What about receiving a smoking break when working for Smoke Free America?

MR.F said...

if that's what THE line in the song was* (or should it be were?)

Nostradamus said...

Actually, I don't think any of them are explicitly ironic.

Which is, of course, ironic.

Eric Karros said...

What song are you guys all referring to?

MR.F said...

One cannot appreciate this poll without knowing the song.


It's like raiiiiiiiiin on your wedding day....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironic_(song)#Linguistic_usage_disputes

Josh S. said...

Filipinos scoff at the spoon/knife thing.

MR.F said...

Josh S., that's why I didn't vote for that one.

Jason said...

Is it ironic that Ramon Ortiz is once again employed as a professional pitcher? This time with the Mets.

Kyle Baker said...

@ Mr C

Yeah in his post EK noted that none is technically ironic.

I'd like to offer up a quotation from Ice T at this time:

It's ironic ain't it, the night I retired/
Would be the same night that my whole life expired.

Nostradamus said...

@Dusty

I was merely noting the irony of the irony poll containing no actual irony.

Eric Karros said...

Mr C - but then you are actually saying that the post does contain irony.

Thereby eliminating the irony.

Nostradamus said...

No ironic choices, that is...

MR.F said...

The poll is very symmetrical right now.

Kyle Baker said...

I have some ironing to do.

Steve Sax said...

Where is Robert Downey Jr. when you need him?

Alex Cora said...

Now that f'ing song is in my head. Thanks EK.

Eric Karros said...

@Jason 10:51am,

I agree...but that's with forks and spoons. In the poll it's knives and spoons. So you gotta look at it totally different.

rbnlaw said...

Actually, all are examples of absurdity. Which is a little ironic. . .I think.

Jason said...

@EK - I intended to follow up the replacement of knives with forks in my example with a comment on the superiority of sporks. But, I got caught telling a coworker the nostalgic story about the time my roommate and I made bronze sporks in college using the art department's sculpture equipment. We really knew the proper way to waste time back then, now I just spend time hunting for cartoon camping bear porn in off-day puzzles.

Kyle Baker said...

^ Hah! Nice one, Jason.

Eric Karros said...

No smoking is dominating