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An excellent example of tragic irony...

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Koko23
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05 Jul 2011, 3:31 pm

"A bareheaded motorcyclist participating in a ride to protest mandatory helmet laws was killed when he was thrown over the handlebars in Onondaga, New York... State police say evidence at the scene plus information from the attending medical expert indicated Contos would have survived had he been wearing a helmet as required by state law."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/04/new.yo ... ?hpt=hp_c2

Edit:

According to Wikipedia:

Tragic irony: A type of dramatic irony. In tragic irony, a character's actions lead to consequences that are both tragic, and contrary to the character's desire and intentions.

There you go. It's ironic. I can't believe some of the responses in this thread. The response I was hoping to solicit was chuckles, but instead I got grammar Nazis and challenges of my definition of "irony". Good Lord. :roll:



Last edited by Koko23 on 06 Jul 2011, 1:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ruveyn
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05 Jul 2011, 4:14 pm

Koko23 wrote:
"A bareheaded motorcyclist participating in a ride to protest mandatory helmet laws was killed when he was thrown over the handlebars in Onondaga, New York... State police say evidence at the scene plus information from the attending medical expert indicated Contos would have survived had he been wearing a helmet as required by state law."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/04/new.yo ... ?hpt=hp_c2


That is not a definition of irony. It is an example of irony.

ruveyn



Koko23
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05 Jul 2011, 4:39 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Koko23 wrote:
"A bareheaded motorcyclist participating in a ride to protest mandatory helmet laws was killed when he was thrown over the handlebars in Onondaga, New York... State police say evidence at the scene plus information from the attending medical expert indicated Contos would have survived had he been wearing a helmet as required by state law."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/04/new.yo ... ?hpt=hp_c2


That is not a definition of irony. It is an example of irony.

ruveyn


Thanks for clarifying. :roll:



jojobean
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06 Jul 2011, 3:07 am

Koko23 wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
Koko23 wrote:
"A bareheaded motorcyclist participating in a ride to protest mandatory helmet laws was killed when he was thrown over the handlebars in Onondaga, New York... State police say evidence at the scene plus information from the attending medical expert indicated Contos would have survived had he been wearing a helmet as required by state law."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/04/new.yo ... ?hpt=hp_c2


That is not a definition of irony. It is an example of irony.

ruveyn


Thanks for clarifying. :roll:


Alittle wiggle room for creative licence wont hurt :wink:


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ruveyn
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06 Jul 2011, 10:42 am

jojobean wrote:

Alittle wiggle room for creative licence wont hurt :wink:


Yes it will. It pollutes the language.

ruveyn



Koko23
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06 Jul 2011, 11:30 am

ruveyn wrote:
jojobean wrote:

Alittle wiggle room for creative licence wont hurt :wink:


Yes it will. It pollutes the language.

ruveyn


Oh hey language police. Thanks for the service you do.



visagrunt
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06 Jul 2011, 12:25 pm

Koko23 wrote:
Oh hey language police. Thanks for the service you do.


Your first phrase is a sentence fragment. You should not use a full stop after, "police." The words, "language police," form an vocative parenthetical which could properly be offset by commas. Your use of the verb, "do," is a poor choice. Auxilliary verbs generally should be used in order to give further information about a main verb--but no main verb appears in your phrase. A better choice would have been, "perform."

So, next time, remember to write, "Oh hey, language police, thanks for the service you perform."

Carry on.


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Koko23
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06 Jul 2011, 12:31 pm

visagrunt wrote:
Koko23 wrote:
Oh hey language police. Thanks for the service you do.


Your first phrase is a sentence fragment. You should not use a full stop after, "police." The words, "language police," form an vocative parenthetical which could properly be offset by commas. Your use of the verb, "do," is a poor choice. Auxilliary verbs generally should be used in order to give further information about a main verb--but no main verb appears in your phrase. A better choice would have been, "perform."

So, next time, remember to write, "Oh hey, language police, thanks for the service you perform."

Carry on.


out of curiosity if you clearly know what im intending to communicate why do you feel the need to make an issue out of nothing i will use the baddest grammar i want thnx very much



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06 Jul 2011, 12:49 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Koko23 wrote:
"A bareheaded motorcyclist participating in a ride to protest mandatory helmet laws was killed when he was thrown over the handlebars in Onondaga, New York... State police say evidence at the scene plus information from the attending medical expert indicated Contos would have survived had he been wearing a helmet as required by state law."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/04/new.yo ... ?hpt=hp_c2


That is not a definition of irony. It is an example of irony.

ruveyn


I fail to see how it's even ironic at all. Tragically amusing, yes. Ironic? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I'm still thinking about it.



Koko23
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06 Jul 2011, 1:13 pm

all_white wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
Koko23 wrote:
"A bareheaded motorcyclist participating in a ride to protest mandatory helmet laws was killed when he was thrown over the handlebars in Onondaga, New York... State police say evidence at the scene plus information from the attending medical expert indicated Contos would have survived had he been wearing a helmet as required by state law."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/04/new.yo ... ?hpt=hp_c2


That is not a definition of irony. It is an example of irony.

ruveyn


I fail to see how it's even ironic at all. Tragically amusing, yes. Ironic? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I'm still thinking about it.


I looked up the definition of irony on wikipedia. The article I posted fits the definition of tragic irony:

Tragic irony: A type of dramatic irony. In tragic irony, a character's actions lead to consequences that are both tragic, and contrary to the character's desire and intentions.



all_white
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06 Jul 2011, 1:40 pm

Koko23 wrote:

I looked up the definition of irony on wikipedia. The article I posted fits the definition of tragic irony:

Tragic irony: A type of dramatic irony. In tragic irony, a character's actions lead to consequences that are both tragic, and contrary to the character's desire and intentions.



Not quite right...

Dramatic irony and tragic irony are literary tools used in fictional plots (hence the reference to "characters" in your quote).

According to the Wikipedia entry, "irony of fate" and "situational irony" both seem to be types of irony applicable to events that take place in real life, so they might be better ones to cite.

That's if the events that led to the motorcyclist's death can be said to be ironic at all. :)



all_white
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06 Jul 2011, 1:59 pm

Koko23 wrote:
There you go. It's ironic. I can't believe some of the responses in this thread. The response I was hoping to solicit was chuckles, but instead I got grammar Nazis and challenges of my definition of "irony". Good Lord. :roll:


You'd do well to remember that this is a forum for autistic people, who earnestly over-analyse things and take things literally. ;)

Also, please do not refer to people who take an interest in grammar as "Nazis." To do so is both incredibly offensive and entirely unfounded, since Nazism had (and has) absolutely nothing to do with a love of language, and everything to do with racism and the slaughter of innocent people.



Koko23
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06 Jul 2011, 2:18 pm

all_white wrote:
Koko23 wrote:
There you go. It's ironic. I can't believe some of the responses in this thread. The response I was hoping to solicit was chuckles, but instead I got grammar Nazis and challenges of my definition of "irony". Good Lord. :roll:


You'd do well to remember that this is a forum for autistic people, who earnestly over-analyse things and take things literally. ;)

Also, please do not refer to people who take an interest in grammar as "Nazis." To do so is both incredibly offensive and entirely unfounded, since Nazism had (and has) absolutely nothing to do with a love of language, and everything to do with racism and the slaughter of innocent people.


Grammar Nazi's: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... mar%20Nazi

It's just a fairly common expression.

I don't think correcting aspects of someone's grammar in a non-academic context where they are clearly being informal and conversational is indication of "love of language", I think it reflects a misunderstanding of the purpose of language, which is communication. Many dialects within America use "grammatically incorrect" phrases, and while we have standards for academic/formal writing, there is no singular "right" way to express oneself through language.

I love language too.

What Nazism has in common with the grammar police on this forum is a narrow-minded adherence to rules for the sake of rules, and no other rational purpose. Hitler was shocked at how sheep-like his people became. People like having rules to follow.



QueenoftheOwls
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06 Jul 2011, 2:33 pm

Hi, Koko 23! Trying to solicit chuckles? Not likely! That's the thing about tragedy. It ain't funny.



Koko23
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06 Jul 2011, 2:52 pm

QueenoftheOwls wrote:
Hi, Koko 23! Trying to solicit chuckles? Not likely! That's the thing about tragedy. It ain't funny.


Of course tragedy itself is not funny, but humor is a normal and healthy way to respond to tragedy. Just because YOU can't see humor and tragedy at the same time doesn't mean "it ain't funny". You could say "it ain't funny to ME", and that would be more accurate (but grammatically incorrect). Note: that parenthetical statement was a joke.

"Finding humor in a tragic situation is an extremely healthy step” says Peter Weingold MD.
http://pattywooten.com/images/TragedyLaughterSurv.pdf

John Stewart and Stephen Colbert (and countless other comedians) make a living off of turning tragedy into humor.

The article I posted is exactly the sort of thing Colbert would report on, tongue in cheek.

Definition of "tongue in cheek": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue-in-cheek



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06 Jul 2011, 9:32 pm

what is up with this onslaught of folks picking threads apart for the sake of an argument than the actual content of the thread? This is the most ridiculous converstion that I have seen in a while.

by the way, I do find it very ironic that his death only gave strong support for what he was protesting against. I think that he might win a darwin award for that. :wink:


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