Sakic wrote:Phenomenologist wrote:Kurtz wrote:Kudos to MainEvent for totally making this thread.
What makes it really great is that people on the internets don't get irony, and are now probably looking forward to the pics tomorrow
How is it irony? If he's telling the truth as opposed to just making up a fanciful story to illustrate his view on Leo, it's not irony. If he's making up a fanciful story to illustrate his view on Leo ... it's still not irony.
It would be irony because the stories make it seem like Leo isn't the problem, which means he's implying that us fans are the problem. i.e, we expect too much of him.
Of course, this is all if the stories are fake, but that doesn't seem to be the case..lol
You're right that it's moot because the stories are pretty clearly true (or otherwise this poster has way too much time on his hands), but ...re: this third option, which I should have included in my original response since it's more likely to be the case than the second option I listed: it still isn't irony.
Sarcasm and irony are not synonymous. Sarcasm can and often does employ irony; it didn't, however, in this case. An ironic expression is an expression whose literal meaning is the opposite of its intended meaning, i.e. the meaning the speaker intended to convey.
Thus, assuming the stories are made up, and for the reason you say, if what he were saying was said ironically, then his intended meaning would be that Leo (and LeBron etc..) are actually great guys. That clearly wouldn't be the intended meaning of such a display, though; the intended meaning would be, as you say, just that we're morons and need to settle down. In other words, in this case it would be mockery, sarcasm, etc. but not irony.