Irony - The Types

"Wow, a sweater! Thanks Bobby," said Janet after opening the present. Janet thought the sweater was hideous, but she appreciated her boyfriend's effort. But since Janet had seen the sweater before at a store in the mall, she exchanged it for some boots at the first chance she got. A week later, however, Bobby made reservations for two at the fanciest restaurant in town "Janet, I want to take you somewhere special. I have good news to tell you. Wear that sweater that I got you," Bobby told her. Janet didn't know how to react, "Um... that sweater doesn't quite match these boots I want to wear. Is it cool if I just wear it another time?" Bobby huffed, "You know, Janet, this meal is going to be expensive. The least you could do is act like you appreciate my gift." Janet paused to think.

Dramatic Irony

Mr. Bath is the president of Make-A-Bath Industries, a small company that employs fifteen workers, including Tom Miller, father of six. Ever since the economy went down the tubes, Make-A-Bath hasn't been selling bath tubs like they once did, and now Mr. Bath has to fire three workers, one of whom will be Tom Miller. But Mr. Bath has never fired anyone before, so he has been delaying giving Tom and the other employees the bad news. But Christmas is approaching. Tom wants to buy nice gifts for his six children, but he doesn't have any money. So Tom charges a whole bunch of nice gifts on his credit card, figuring that he can pay it back with money from his checks that he will be getting from his job all year. Tom and his family don't have a lot of extra money to spend, so he likes to get his kids nice Christmas presents. Tom is looking forward to one of the best Christmases ever.

Dramatic Irony

One bright and warm Easter morning, Timmy Holloway woke up to the smell of eggs, but not breakfast eggs, Easter eggs. That's right Timmy had a craving for Easter eggs, and today was the day to get them boy howdy. There was only one thing standing in his way, well two really: the Solomon brothers. The Solomon brothers got more eggs than Timmy every year because there were two of them and they counted their eggs as one. Timmy suspected that this was cheating but he couldn't articulate the notion. When Timmy got to the fair grounds, he clutched his Easter egg sack behind his back and approached the Solomon brothers. The taller one distracted Timmy while the shorter one snuck behind him, clipping the corner of Timmy's egg sack and making quite a big hole. Unfortunately, Timmy failed to notice this. When the whistle blew, Timmy was off. He was surprised to see the Solomon brothers behind him, since he was much faster than they, but he didn't mind. Timmy beat them to every egg, and raced on to the next, never noticing that his sack wasn't getting heavier. As he approached the end of the course, Timmy was elated that he was the first to finish. The Solomon brothers were right behind him. "Maybe next year, loser twins," Timmy chuckled, right before he noticed that his sack was empty.

Dramatic Irony

While walking home from work, Lake Park Mall security guard Scott Thornton thought about his day. A shoplifter had outrun him, he had lost the keys to the golf cart, and a group of skateboarders had made fun of his weight. Things had not gone so well. Scott was so deep in thought that he did not even notice that he had stumbled on to a movie set. Lost in thought, he passed by trailers, cameras, and stagehands, yet he was unaware of the scene around him. When he came out of his daze, he looked up and saw a man who was wearing a ski mask waving a knife at an old lady. Figuring that the masked man was robbing the old woman, Scott bolted into action. He was so charged up with adrenaline that he did not even notice the cameraman filming him as he jump kicked the actor wearing the ski mask.

Dramatic Irony

Bobby began studying for the big math test on the bus ride home. He tried to study while walking home from the bus but recognized this as a bad idea after bumping into a lamppost. When he got home, he didn't watch any TV because he was studying so intensely. He completed the study guide that Mr. Morris gave him and then he completed one that he had made himself. Bobby stayed awake all through the night finding extra problems on the Internet and completing them. By the time the sun rose, Bobby had mastered the content. He felt prepared as he entered the classroom. He sharpened his pencil, sat at his desk, put his head down, fell asleep, and failed his test.

Situational Irony

Mr. Reinhart is the building inspector for the entire county. Anytime a person wants to add a permanent structure to their home or property, such as a deck or balcony, the building plans need to be approved by Mr. Reinhart before construction can begin. Mr. Reinhart checks to see that each plan is safe before construction begins. Once building begins, he checks to see that construction is going according to the plan. In a way, he is responsible for ensuring that every structure in the county is built properly. One day Mr. Reinhart was having a party at his house. He and his three guests were barbequing on the porch attached to his house, when the structure suddenly collapsed. Apparently, termites got into the wood and had been chewing away the support beams for several months.

Situational Irony

When Mr. Goodenwell saw his baby boy Vince for the first time, he swore that he'd do anything to protect the little guy. This was easy at first, when all Vince did was lie in a pillow and drink milk. But as little Vince grew bigger, he started walking. And once he started walking, he got into everything. He was becoming a serious threat to himself when Mr. Goodenwell, making good on his vow to protect his son, went to the store and bought $150 worth of equipment to childproof his home. He put covers on the outlets, bumpers on the table corners, and a sliding lock on the toilet lid. But right as Mr. Goodenwell was adjusting the covers on the door knobs, Vince pulled the cap off an outlet and choked on it. Mr. Goodenwell found him just in time.

Situational Irony

When the first English settlers arrived at Jamestown, hygiene was not a priority. The settlers faced many challenges. Food was scarce, the land was unsuitable for farming, and relations with Native Americans were uneasy. Still, some settlers found time to care for their teeth by brushing them with rags and abrasive tooth powders. Archaeologists have examined the remains of these colonists. They discovered that many of the settlers were missing the enamel on their teeth. By using these tooth powders, the settlers had striped this protective layer from their teeth. This caused their teeth to decay.

Situational Irony

As the holiday season ended, Bertha Berger struggled to put on her blue jeans. They seemed much tighter than usual, so she stepped on the bathroom scale and received the bad news. She had never seen such a high number on the little scale, so she resolved to change. That day she threw out all of the junk food in her fridge and went grocery shopping. She was determined to lose weight, so she bought low-fat and reduced calorie versions of all of her favorite foods. When she got home she had a low-sodium bacon sandwich and a diet soda. For dinner she had two turkey burgers with reduced fat cheese and half-fat mayonnaise, along with two low-calorie ice-cream sandwiches for dessert. Before she went to bed, she ate a bag of baked potato chips, which are healthier than normal chips, and dipped them into low-fat cream cheese. When Bertha woke up the next morning, she was pleased with how well her diet was going, but when she stepped on to the scale, she saw that she had gained a pound.

Situational/Dramatic Irony

I thought that my mother was going to flip out when Perry came over to eat at our house. To my surprise she just ignored him, even though he wore his hat, put his elbows on the table, and rocked back in his chair. I thought that she would go crazy when he pulled bones out of his mouth and put them on his plate instead of spitting them into a napkin. To my astonishment she looked past this too. But when Perry slammed a glass of root beer and burped the ABCs, she could restrain herself no longer. "What a wonderful rendition of the alphabet, Perry, and how age appropriate?" Perry wore a confused look, unsure of what her reaction had meant.

Verbal Irony

Making friends isn't easy. Ask Juan Guerrero, who moved to New High School High three months ago but still eats lunch by himself. Nobody picks on him really, but they pretty much ignore him completely, at least since the incident. You see, Juan had his chance. We almost adopted him into our crew, the skaters, after Juan said he could skate. "Oh yeah?" asked my boy Romeo, "well, where's your board?" Juan replied shakily, "Uh, my mom ran over it with her car, but I do flips and grinds and all that stuff." Romeo didn't believe him. "Why don't you use my board? Show me one of those flips," Romeo challenged. Juan gulped and grabbed the board. "Uh... Ok," he replied. When you see a good skater on TV or in a video game, skateboarding may look easy, but just moving properly, let alone doing any tricks, takes a lot of practice. Because of this, I was not the least bit surprised when Juan landed flat on his can before he even made it across a single sidewalk square. "Wow! What an awesome flip, Tony Hawk. You'll have to teach me that," Romeo sneered. Now Juan eats lunch alone.

Verbal Irony

When Lawrence saw the posters for the circus hanging on the bulletin board, as he swept up the trimmings at Slim's Barbershop, he knew he would be taking his little cousins. They loved animals, and he was looking forward to seeing the smiles on their faces as the circus performers amazed them with their stunts. But sweeping up hair clippings didn't pay a whole lot. Lawrence spent 45 dollars just getting tickets. But it was worth it to see his cousins' faces. The day finally came and everyone was excited as they walked into that big circus tent. But Lawrence soon realized that he and his cousins would be thirsty and hungry. As they sat in their seats, the drink vendor walked by selling beverages. Desperately thirsty, Lawrence asked him how much a lemonade would cost, and the drink vendor said, "Eleven dollars each." Lawrence replied, "Oh, that's it? Just eleven dollars? What a great deal for one cup of lemonade. That's totally worth it." The drink vendor walked away.

Verbal Irony