{"id":3440,"date":"2010-10-03T04:47:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-03T10:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/qotd\/when-i-use-a-word-humpty-dumpty-said-in-rather-a-scornful-tone-it-means-just-what-i-choose-it-to-mean-neither-more-nor-less\/"},"modified":"2010-10-03T04:47:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-03T10:47:00","slug":"when-i-use-a-word-humpty-dumpty-said-in-rather-a-scornful-tone-it-means-just-what-i-choose-it-to-mean-neither-more-nor-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/qotd\/when-i-use-a-word-humpty-dumpty-said-in-rather-a-scornful-tone-it-means-just-what-i-choose-it-to-mean-neither-more-nor-less\/","title":{"rendered":""When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.""},"content":{"rendered":"

From Alice in Wonderland<\/em>. Was Lewis Carroll mocking that view?<\/p>\n

mjh’s blog \u2014 Do children understand irony? Does Science Daily?<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

It took me a long time to realize that I use the word irony differently from anyone I\u2019ve ever discussed the term with. Most people speak of irony as intentional \u2013 \u201cI was being ironic\u201d \u2013 which is impossible for me. I prefer to call \u201cintentional irony\u201d sarcasm, as in \u201cI\u2019m sure you agree this is interesting \u2026\u201d Then there is real irony, which cannot ever be intentional, as I use irony. [read more]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As an update to that earlier blog post: I followed an exchange in which a writer made a categorical statement without any clear tone. A respondent explained the fallacy of the original statement. The original writer dismissed the correction with \u201cI was being sarcastic.\u201d Later, someone wrote: \u201cBest use of sarcasm ever!! (see it is funny because you were actually being facetious).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBest use of sarcasm,\u201d which may be hyperbole, is not quite as good as \u201cI never tire of your sarcasm.\u201d (Kitty on That 70\u2019s Show.) I was moved by the need to correct sarcasm to facetiousness.<\/p>\n

Words mean more than any one person can fully comprehend. Language is inherently inaccurate, no matter how precisely we use it. Not that you understand what I mean, which is neither arrogance nor an insult to you, simply an acknowledgement of language\u2019s weakness. Sadly, we blame each other for misunderstandings when it is language that is to blame. (Or our mutual and equal failure to grasp that.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Alice in Wonderland. Was Lewis Carroll mocking that view? mjh’s blog \u2014 Do children understand irony? Does Science Daily? It took me a long time to realize that I use the word irony differently from anyone I\u2019ve ever discussed the term with. Most people speak of irony as intentional \u2013 \u201cI was being ironic\u201d … Continue reading "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qotd","category-the-atheists-pulpit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}