0:00:16.726,0:00:18.066 Picture this: 0:00:18.066,0:00:20.391 your friend and you are watching a sitcom 0:00:20.391,0:00:22.765 and a sassy sidekick walks into a room, 0:00:22.765,0:00:25.011 carrying a four-tiered wedding cake. 0:00:25.011,0:00:25.949 He trips, 0:00:25.949,0:00:26.540 falls, 0:00:26.540,0:00:28.672 and face-plants into the cake. 0:00:28.672,0:00:31.176 Your friend doubles over with laughter and says, 0:00:31.176,0:00:34.527 "It's so ridiculous! So ironic!" 0:00:34.527,0:00:36.457 Well, quick, what do you do? 0:00:36.457,0:00:38.329 Do you laugh along with the laugh track 0:00:38.329,0:00:41.569 and let this grievous misinterpretation of irony go? 0:00:41.569,0:00:43.098 Or, do you throw caution to the wind 0:00:43.098,0:00:45.487 and explain the true meaning of irony? 0:00:45.487,0:00:48.658 If you're me, you choose the latter. 0:00:48.658,0:00:52.591 Unfortunately, irony has been completely misunderstood. 0:00:52.591,0:00:54.377 We tend to throw out that term 0:00:54.377,0:00:57.765 whenever we see something funny or coincidental. 0:00:57.765,0:01:00.854 And while many examples of true irony can be funny, 0:01:00.854,0:01:04.082 that is not the driving factor of being ironic. 0:01:04.082,0:01:07.303 A situation is only ironic if what happens 0:01:07.303,0:01:10.662 is the exact opposite of what was expected. 0:01:10.662,0:01:13.247 If you expect A, but get B, 0:01:13.247,0:01:15.015 then you have irony. 0:01:15.015,0:01:17.862 Let's take the slap-stick cake situation as an example. 0:01:17.862,0:01:20.941 When someone walks in precariously balancing something 0:01:20.941,0:01:22.584 that shouldn't be carried alone, 0:01:22.584,0:01:25.100 trips, falls, and makes a mess, 0:01:25.100,0:01:27.637 it is funny, but it's not ironic. 0:01:27.637,0:01:29.513 In fact, you probably expect someone 0:01:29.513,0:01:32.743 who is single-handedly carrying a huge cake to trip. 0:01:32.743,0:01:35.855 When he does, reality aligns with expectations, 0:01:35.855,0:01:38.633 and so that is not irony. 0:01:38.633,0:01:41.790 But what if the sassy sidekick walked in wearing a gold medal 0:01:41.790,0:01:43.959 that he'd won at the cake walking event 0:01:43.959,0:01:46.576 at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996? 0:01:46.576,0:01:49.921 What if that sidekick was a professional cake carrier? 0:01:49.921,0:01:52.926 Then, maybe there would have been a reasonable expectation 0:01:52.926,0:01:54.862 that he would have been more skilled 0:01:54.862,0:01:57.954 when carrying a ridiculously large cake. 0:01:57.954,0:02:02.683 Then, when that reasonable expectation was not met by the tripping sidekick, 0:02:02.683,0:02:05.039 irony would have been exemplified. 0:02:05.039,0:02:06.286 Another example. 0:02:06.286,0:02:09.089 A senior citizen texting and blogging. 0:02:09.089,0:02:10.590 The common and reasonable expectation 0:02:10.590,0:02:13.253 of more mature men and women 0:02:13.253,0:02:16.826 is that they don't like or know technology, 0:02:16.826,0:02:19.105 that they have a hard time turning on a computer, 0:02:19.105,0:02:22.879 or that they have the old brick cell phones from the 1980s. 0:02:22.879,0:02:25.031 One should not expect them to be connected, 0:02:25.031,0:02:26.160 high-tech, 0:02:26.160,0:02:27.895 or savvy enough to text 0:02:27.895,0:02:29.231 or to be blogging, 0:02:29.231,0:02:31.832 which must seem like some sort of newfangled thing 0:02:31.832,0:02:35.360 that "back in my day," they never had. 0:02:35.360,0:02:37.210 So when Granny pulls out her smart phone 0:02:37.210,0:02:39.148 to post pictures of her dentures 0:02:39.148,0:02:40.530 or her grandkids, 0:02:40.530,0:02:42.759 irony ensues. 0:02:42.759,0:02:46.473 Reasonable expectations of the situation are not met. 0:02:46.473,0:02:48.354 That is irony. 0:02:48.354,0:02:51.316 So while the cake dropper might not be ironic, 0:02:51.316,0:02:55.297 there are all kinds of situations in life that are. 0:02:55.297,0:02:59.126 Go out, and find those true examples of irony.