Americans (and, thanks to Alanis, Canadians as well) have demonstrated a cultural talent for misapplying the word "ironic" in everyday usage. I'm usually fairly cognizant in print, but even I catch myself applying it in speech to situations that are just unfortunate or amusing, a habit I've been attempting to weed along with the last vestiges of my rural Nebraskan dialect (to Lisa's disappointment, I've utterly failed to mention what time "I got left" in recent months). Irony is at times a difficult concept, but a good example would be the letter I received from my mortgage company today. Thanks to the property valuation jump I mentioned in the last post, I fully expected a letter from said company advising me of an increase in my monthly payment, although I found it odd that it had arrived so soon. The irony in the situation is that, in contrast to my expectations, the letter actually advised me that my monthly payments were going down because the company had overcharged me based on an inaccurate estimation of my taxes over the last two years. They even included a little refund check. I laughed. Of course, I'll only enjoy the lower rate for a month or two before they discover the jump in my taxes and raise my payment above what it was before, but the chuckle was worth it.

I also experienced rain today, not on my wedding day but on my mowing day. This was not ironic.

In other news, I was flashed by a 10-year-old today. There was still a properly worn bathing suit present, so no legal issues were involved, but her intent (the sudden opening of a towel and exaggerated thrusting of the chest to the passing cars as she and her friends stood in the rain, followed by laughter) was somewhat less than innocent. Stellar parenting, really.

Labels: amusement, irony, social commentary