Ironik

Originally Posted by TonyV

Okay, as long as this is escalating this to snarky...

No matter how much you lecture and no matter how many times you state something that is just plain wrong, it doesn't change the dictionary definition of the word, it doesn't change virtually every literary textbook ever written, it doesn't change any of the innumerable resources that back me up on this. Your retort of "nuh-uh" just isn't convincing.

It reminds me of an argument I got in with a guy in college one time. He made some offhand comment about the dark side of the moon, the side that always faces away from the sun. I wasn't looking to get in an argument, I just mentioned in passing, "You mean the Earth. The 'dark side' of the moon is the side that always faces away from the Earth." He got all defensive and dug in, and no amount of logical explanation about its period of rotation versus revolution or about how the same features are always in the same places regardless of phase would convince him otherwise.

It reminds me a bit of an argument I got in with a guy from work one time. He said something about his cousin's child, his second cousin. Again, I offhandedly said, "that's your first cousin once removed, not your second cousin," and explained that your second cousin is someone who is the same generation as you who shares the same great grandparents (whereas a first cousin shares the same grandparents), and that the "once removed" designation stands for "one generation removed." Again, that guy got all defensive and dug in, and no amount of documentation from reputable sources I showed him would convince him that having studied my own genealogy pretty heavily, I knew what I was talking about.

I learned a while back that some people, no matter how much proof you offer them that they're wrong, will still refuse to admit it. Some people, for some weird reason, think that they look smarter clinging to something wrong, something that everyone else knows is wrong, that to simply say, "Oops, I was mistaken."

One more anecdote for the road. I had two good friends who used to date each other. I had known both of them for years before they met each other, and I knew them both better than they knew each other. I told them up front, "You're not compatible. You really have conflicting personalities, and at best, you're going to drive each other nuts." They were both nice people, but one was classic type A, very picky, always early, very neat, etc. The other was laid back, happy-go-lucky, a bona fide slob, hours late to everything, etc. No, they insisted, they complement each other, and became bound and determined to make it work. They'd show ol' Tony that he was wrong. It ended very badly. One literally ran away to Chile, met a girl down there who was more like him, and is happily married with three kids. I introduced the other to another friend of mine who was compatible with her, was the best man at their wedding, and they have one girl and another on the way today. Both are still good friends of mine, and to this day, they hate each other.

The point is, there are things I'm not an expert in. Automobiles, as I mentioned above. Sports. Outdoor activities. Poetry. Heavy metal, rap, and opera. War history. Cooking. Impressionist art. New York City. These are some subjects that, if you argue with me about something pertaining to the topic, you'll have a decent chance of convincing me I'm wrong.

This isn't one.

Okay, one more true story to convey my impression of this argument. I once took a class in which a lady insisted that there are 52 states in the United States. She swore up and down that she knew this for a fact. Of course, I insisted that no, there are only 50 states in the United States. Unfortunately, and to this day I don't exactly know how, she somehow managed to be a lot more convincing than I was and had the other 12 or so students and the teacher waffling on who was right. Before long, some were actually defending her. One classmate actually said, "I remember them adding two more states a few years ago, like back in the 1980s." I swear, I thought my head was going to pop. The next week, I brought a book of everything imaginable. Maps, history texts, lists of U.S. Senators and Representatives, printouts of government statistics, the whole nine yards. Before I could make my case, she admitted that when she got home, her nine-year-old daughter told her, "Mama, you know there are only 50 states!" Thank god someone in the family had a lick of sense. No matter how many strangers who think they know better tell me that there are 52 states, I know for an absolute fact that there are not. It's one of those things that I'm in my element talking about, I know I'm right, and it really is that simple.

If you continue to choose to believe something that is provably untrue, well, go right ahead. I have a saying about that, but I'll keep it to myself to avoid unnecessarily escalating this argument any further.

Originally Posted by TonyV

See, that's just it, what you're referring to isn't irony. Really, it's not. Look it up. At least, it's not in the "pure" sense of the word, certainly not in the historical sense of the word. The Wikipedia probably nails it best in the section titled, Situational irony: "This is a relatively modern use of the term, and describes a discrepancy between the expected result and actual results when enlivened by perverse appropriateness." It also notes, "By some definitions, situational irony and cosmic irony are not irony at all."

Originally Posted by TonyV

How people criticize Alanis Morissette for getting irony wrong is beyond me. I honestly think that most people who criticize others for not knowing what "irony" is doesn't understand it themselves, which is ironic in itself for reasons that hopefully will become apparent in this post.

Key to the concept of irony is some divergence between what is expected or stated and what is reality. The simplest example of this is verbal irony, often called sarcasm, such as when you say something like, "Yeah, he's really happy about that," when in fact it is understood and known that whoever you're taking about is outraged. However, this isn't the only kind.

There is also situational irony, in which people in a situation believe one thing to be true when in fact something quite different is the case. The classic example of this is the tale of the girl who sold her hair for a watch fob to give to her husband for his watch that was missing one, while the husband was selling his watch to buy a ribbon for his wife's beautiful hair. Each believed that the other was still in possession of the thing that was required for their gift and that the gift would be very useful to the other. The reality was that in doing their respective actions, they were completely invalidating the actions of the other. (At least from a utilitarian perspective; I'm sure each dearly loved the other for the thoughtful gesture.)

Originally Posted by Rigel_Kent

Re-edit: Now, I'm not completely down on everything to speak of about I18. Surely, you've heard there are rumored things coming to non-GR subscribers in I18, some of which I'm very pleased about, but this isn't the thread for I18 rumors.

Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect

Troy Hickman is a fairly successful comic book writer (fairly successful in that his work has actually been published), who also happens to be a City of Heroes player (he is the only person I know of who actually posts under his real name).

Originally Posted by Gaming_Glen

I've seen these. They really don't roleplay all that much on teams. I have never put that in my characters' description; if you can't see that I'm roleplaying then either I'm doing a bad job of it or you really don't understand what roleplaying is about. Roleplaying isn't just standing around chatting in local.

Originally Posted by ChristopherRobin

Originally Posted by BackFire

[list]

[*]You can earn credit for the Gravedigger badge if you do any amount of damage to an Embalmed Vahz before he blows himself up. This also counts towards "defeat X Vazhilok" missions.

Originally Posted by je_saist

Granted I wish my kitty girls would get down on all fours to scamper around, and that I'd have pouncing animations and... wait, phone's ringing...