Updated! Discussion: /bug is bugged on the EU Training Room and NA Beta server

This, lol.

Captain Den'Rath 53* Merk/Traps MM, Rivona 50Energy Blast/Time Cor,Victoria Von Heilwig 53* Dual Pistols/Traps Cor, Crab Spider Webguard 53* SOA, Accela 53* Bot/FF MM,Valkyrie's Executor 53* Broadsword/Shield Def Scrap. On FREEDOM! @Knight Of Bronze

"Yo dawg, we put some bug in your /bug so you can't /bug while you bug!"

Seriously, though, we might have never known if not for the announcement. Good catch!

Awesomely done.

But it IS actual irony, not the generic misuse of the term that's been floating around since it was popularized on the internet.

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means...

What's ironic is that you seem to not know what IS actual irony if you think that firespray's use of the word is incorrect. Just to break it down yet again for those who seem to love jumping on the "you don't know what irony is!" bandwagon, simplistically speaking, irony is an incongruity between something that is said, expected, or believed, and the reality of a situation.

In firespray's post, the irony lies in the fact that one would believe a fire alarm system would help protect one from the consequences of a fire. In reality, the fire alarm system actually caused a fire. Incongruity between belief and reality, thus, correct use of the word irony.

In your post, given that you are lecturing someone one what irony is, one would expect that you yourself know what it is. In reality, given your misguided backhanded criticism of firespray, it seems that you do not. Again, an incongruity between expectation and reality, thus, irony.

What's kind of funny to me is that there is indeed a general misuse of the word "irony" by people on the Internet today, but it's primarily by people who are lecturing other people about misusing it. They seem to believe that just because something is humorous, coincidental, or unfortunate, that it can't be irony. I guess that they think that irony must be something dry, intellectual, and is only really irony when used by literary geniuses. In actuality, although the word "irony" is sometimes misused to describe such things, it is extremely common that irony is in fact humorous, coincidental, and/or unfortunate. That is much of what makes it particularly effective as a literary or verbal device. Irony, humor, coincidence, and misfortune are in no way mutually exclusive, yet I see people all the time say things like, "That's not irony, it's coincidence," or, "That's not irony, that's just bad luck."

It can be, and frequently is, all of the above. Such is the case with firespray's post, which is an excellent textbook example of irony.


Edit: Pondering your post further, I'm really scratching my head here. Exactly what do you think the difference in incongruity is between /bug being bugged and a fire alarm catching on fire? If anything, I would think that the latter is much more ironic than the former. I don't believe that the /bug system is any less susceptible to having coding errors in it than any other piece of code, and I don't expect the /bug system to prevent bugs. With no incongruity between belief or expectation and reality, I would be inclined to consider the /bug system being bugged as merely unfortunate, not ironic. I guess one could argue that there's an expectation that the developers would pay special attention to the /bug system, ensuring that it is bug-free so that users could report other bugs, but I think that's stretching it a bit--far more than firespray's post.

And apologies in advance if the first "it" you were referring to in your post is firespray's anecdote. The wording in your post makes it sound like you are saying that it (i.e. the /bug system being bugged) is actual irony, unlike the generic [sic] misuse of the term that has been floating around (e.g. firespray's post). Also, I think the phrase you are looking for there is "general misuse," not "generic misuse," which doesn't make sense in that context.

I think where the irony comes from in this situation is that we would expect to be able to /bug the issue, but the reality is that we can't (because it's bugged). lol


On a side note, you contradicted yourself...
Then you went on to say:
How is what you said really any different? It can be irony AND unfortunate (just like the school fire).

You're right; as I pointed out, it can be and frequently is. But the key is in the incongruity.

If this were true, you'd be right. However, I don't think there's any real expectation to be able to /bug the /bug system being bugged. Sure, it's funny to try, and saying something like, "Someone should /bug that!" is an example of verbal irony in that they know that it's not possible. But there has to be a difference between what is expected, believed, or said, and what is true in reality. Without that difference, it's not irony. In this case, what we know to be true (that trying to /bug the /bug system being bugged probably won't work) is in line with reality (that it really probably won't work).