Monday, December 21, 2009

Do you find it ironic when actors and politicians pretend to understand energy?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqAtW.xFqb1rZJMLIi34nA0jzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20091024090509AAGfg7K

Do you find it ironic when actors and politicians pretend to understand energy?

It is not my intent to insult anyone. But I actually do think that it is rocket science. Anyone who stands out in a lovely green field with a windmill in the background and talks about solving the world energy shortage while saving the environment is either being disingenuous or he doesn't fully understand the problem.

I thiunk this is a great place to stop and take stock. What this blog attempts to do is, through Yahoo! Answers, show just how oddly and erratically the word 'ironic' is used, using examples from Yahoo! Answers. A good many Yahoo! Answers users, especially in certain sections, use it not as a way of asking questions but as a way of sharing their opinions with strangers: a kind of soapbox, if you will. This person clearly has some interest in energy (which he appears to believe is rocket science: well, rockets do need fuel). He has perhaps recently seen some TV commercials or TV programmes featuring actors talking about energy. He is bothered, and perhaps annoyed, by the simplicity of their arguments. They seem, to him, to simplify a complex matter, and this angers him.

Now, of all the words in the great English language to describe this, he chooses the word 'ironic'. Is this, in even the smallest way, an appropriate use of the word 'ironic'? Is there even a twinge of irony here (except that the TV channel NBC is owned by GE...)? No. And yet... and yet... It appears that 'ironic' is becoming a catch-all word to describe any situation that bothers certain people.

Isn't that ironic? Oh, wait. No, it isn't. Not in the slightest.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Is it kind of ironic that im fat and a animal actavist?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnZn.nW9fkgfzU4QS8lKUeMjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20080320193112AA6qlTJ
Is it kind of ironic that im fat and a animal actavist?

I am 100% against mars candy and kfc foods

I hate when people are cruel to animals but i'm fat is it hypocritical? is it ironic? i mean i wasnt always so into it but i always cared for them

like im becoming a vegeterian and everything. like full blown activist

and im scared of mice and birds but i want to protect them

like idk is it ironic?

I can't claim to have the first clue what this person is saying - I almost wonder if it's a joke. Forget the fact that she means 'hypocritical' when she says 'ironic' - you've still got a very confused person who draws a relationship between body size and activism.

This is one of the amazing aspects of Yahoo! Answers: people who are not only confused but are so very confused that you wouldn't know where to start in answering them...

Monday, December 7, 2009

Is it ironic, tragic, or funny that the Gobi Desert is the shadow of Himalayan mountains?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Atd8niF7boVxhJ7ApB8QKDUjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20090629055724AAUwLoD
Is it ironic, tragic, or funny that the Gobi Desert is the shadow of Himalayan mountains?

Over 1000 x 800 Miles of pathetic desert, and that because of somone else who is too strong and virile... What does it mean for you personally?
Here is a person trying way too hard to shoehorn a meaning here that ought not exist... seeing mountains and deserts as opposites in terms of, ahem, 'virility', he then shoots three adjectives as the fact that in the world there is a mountain range (vaguely) near a desert. It's certainly not funny, it's certainly not tragic, and I can assure you it isn't 'ironic' in the least.