tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83036714273639971662024-02-08T14:11:37.382-05:00Thoughts on Irony<a href="mailto:bradflyon@gmail.com">bradflyon@gmail.com</a>Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14801037354020825824noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303671427363997166.post-88803897958796443592016-03-13T14:02:00.002-04:002016-03-13T18:08:27.788-04:00Assessing the Ironic Twinge Factor for the Examples in Alanis Morissette's Song "Ironic"<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha256-7s5uDGW3AHqw6xtJmNNtr+OBRJUlgkNJEo78P4b0yRw= sha512-nNo+yCHEyn0smMxSswnf/OnX6/KwJuZTlNZBjauKhTK0c+zT+q5JOCx0UFhXQ6rJR9jg6Es8gPuD2uZcYDLqSw==" crossorigin="anonymous">
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<div class="main">
<p>I have been studying examples of irony, with a focus on situational irony.</p>
<p>Some background on this effort is discussed <a href="http://thoughtsonirony.blogspot.com/2016/02/towards-subjective-numerical.html">in this blog post</a>.</p>
<p>You can view the current list of examples, and even submit your own example and values for the different properties, at this site:
<div style="margin-left:50px;"><a href="https://learnforeverlearn.com/ironycat/">https://learnforeverlearn.com/ironycat/</a>
</div>
<div class="mySection">It's All about the Twinge</div>
<div class="quote-callout right">
<blockquote>
<p>...you felt it, right? That twinge that hits when you recognize irony?...That's why irony is so difficult to pin down sometimes: sometimes, with irony--especially situational irony--you just have to feel it.
</p>
<cite>In <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/2012/10/19/3524796/reversal-of-expectations-an-odd-post-on-irony">Reversal of Expectations: An Odd Post on Irony</a> on <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/">http://www.dawgsports.com/</a> by Cherokee's Grip, Oct 19, 2012.
</cite>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p>I have begun to hone in on using the "twinge" you feel when seeing certain types of irony. It is currently the primary indicator of what I am interested in. This twinge is the result of a number of factors that I am looking to continue articulating and quantifying for more and more examples. This (growing) list of factors includes incongruity, reversal of expectations, unexpectedness, "God(s) are messing with you", cosmic karma, and hypocrisy.</p>
<p>The purpose of the current post is to note the subjective "twinge" factor for each of the examples in Alanis Morissette's "Ironic". There has been much discussion and hand-wringing over this song with respect to definition of irony. Here, <strong><em>I am not judging the situations in her song relative to various definitions; instead, I am assessing it relative to that "twinge"</em></strong>.
</p>
<p>Note that, in my opinion, most of Alanis' examples are of the form "the universe is messing with you" - but if the degree of this is sufficient, it can still trigger that "ironic twinge" a little.</p>
<p>The twinge factor can have a value of 0 for no twinge at all, all the way up to 10. This is a purely subjective rating. A few examples I've come across with a high twinge factors are shown below.</p>
<div class="twinge-example-wrapper">
<div class="twinge-example">
<div class="text">
"My manager told us we are no longer allowed to read at my job... I work at a library."
</div>
<div class="twinge-cite">
From <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/Irony/comments/43fqeo/my_manager_told_us_we_are_no_longer_allowed_to/'>this reddit thread</a>.
</div>
<div class="twinge-example-divider"></div>
</div>
<div class="twinge-example">
<div class="text">
When someone writes "your an idiot".
</div>
<div class="twinge-cite">
</div>
<div class="twinge-example-divider"></div>
</div>
<div style="clear:both;"></div>
<div class="twinge-example">
<img src="http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/img/photos/2012/01/03/b5/c6/friends_of_irony_18.jpg" width="200">
<div class="twinge-cite">
Learned of this one from <a href='https://youtu.be/n2Hv0REsg28?t=39m05s'>Universality and creativity in language (youtube)</a> by Paolo Rosso.
</div>
<div class="twinge-example-divider"></div>
</div>
<div class="twinge-example">
<img src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ca/6c/0c/ca6c0cc36c6213e0f1c5e290df58cf33.jpg" width="200">
<div class="twinge-cite">
A rabbit making a shadow puppet of a hand. From <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/489344315733013263/">this pin on Pinterest</a>.
</div>
<div class="twinge-example-divider"></div>
</div>
<div class="text-center bold twinge-examples-caption">A Few Examples with High "Irony Twinge" Factor</div>
</div>
<br/>
<br/>
<p>All of the examples from Morissette's "Ironic" have a low (subjective!) "ironic twinge" factor, but not all of them are zero for me. Do your ratings differ? Are they all zero for you? or are some higher? Please feel free to let me know at <a href="mailto:bradflyon@gmail.com">bradflyon@gmail.com</a>.</p>
<div class="bold iitext-center" style="margin-top:25px;">Twinge Factor for Examples in Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic"</div>
<table class="alanis-table table table-condensed table-striped table-hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="alanis">Situation</th>
<th class="ignoretwinge">Twinge <br/>(0 to 10)</th>
<th>Comment</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr style="font-style:italic;">
<td class="alanis">
Rabbit making shadow puppet of hand.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:100px"></div>
10</td>
<td style="font-weight:bold;">This was not in her song - it is included for comparison purposes.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
A free ride when you've already paid.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:25px"></div>
2.5</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
Ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:20px"></div>
2</td>
<td>If it were just a single spoon, then this would be a zero. But the exaggerated degree triggers a bit of the twinge.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
It's meeting the man of my dreams, and then meeting his beautiful wife.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:10px"></div>
1</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
<p>Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly</br>
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye</br>
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight</br>
And as the plane crashed down he thought</br>
"Well, isn't this nice."
</p>
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:10px"></div>
1</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
A traffic jam when you're already late.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:7.5px"></div>
0.75</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery and died the next day.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:2.5px"></div>
0.25</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
It's like rain on your wedding day.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:2px"></div>
0.2</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
It's the good advice that you just didn't take.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:0.1px"></div>
0.01</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:0.1px"></div>
0</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:0.1px"></div>
0</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alanis">
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break.
</td>
<td class="twinge">
<div class="twinge-bar" style="width:0.1px"></div>
0</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14801037354020825824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303671427363997166.post-80288988230189813002016-03-07T00:32:00.002-05:002016-03-12T12:43:56.184-05:00Building a Database of User-Marked Irony<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha256-7s5uDGW3AHqw6xtJmNNtr+OBRJUlgkNJEo78P4b0yRw= sha512-nNo+yCHEyn0smMxSswnf/OnX6/KwJuZTlNZBjauKhTK0c+zT+q5JOCx0UFhXQ6rJR9jg6Es8gPuD2uZcYDLqSw==" crossorigin="anonymous">
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<div class="main">
<!--
<div class="mySection">The Goal: Build a Database of Self-Marked Irony</div>
-->
<p>One of the things I am wanting to do is to put together a database of statements/situations that some people deem as "ironic".</p>
<p>One aspect of this involves assigning numeric values for various attributes often associated with irony - some info on my starts on this is described <a href="http://thoughtsonirony.blogspot.com/2016/02/towards-subjective-numerical.html">in this blog post</a>. That blog post also mentions my site <a href="https://learnforeverlearn.com/ironycat/">https://learnforeverlearn.com/ironycat/</a> where you can submit your own characterizations of ironic images or situations. </p>
<p>Another strategy is to gather up things that people have <i>already</i> marked as "ironic" in some way. Here, I don't care if the dictionary says it is ironic. Rather, I am interested in things that people think are ironic.</p>
<p>I implemented a simple node.js app to get the past week's worth of tweets to get these tweets based on certain terms in the tweets. It takes about 20-30 minutes for this to run for a given search term (you have to throttle calls due to rate limits of twitter api; more details on the approach are at the bottom of this post).</p>
<!--
<p class="bold note">After playing with the generated data a little, it is clear that it is easy to create a database of "weak" irony. Even looking to manually curate the result of just one week's worth of data is no small effort, and it is kind of a tiring one as well.
</p>
-->
<a name='more'></a>
<p>The basic idea here is to first get tweets that are at least seven days ago (seven days back is the documented limit with the twitter api search), note the maximum tweet id returned, and then afterwards repeatedly call the twitter api using sequential ranges for the tweet id based on a constant size for the range of ids. As far as I could tell, a tweet id width of <i>10000000000000</i> seems to cover approximately an hour.</p>
<p>I did this as separate runs for the following search terms for the previous week:
<ul>
<li>"the irony of" (~4800 tweets, ~700/day) </li>
<li>"isn't it ironic" (~1200 tweets, ~170/day) </li>
<li>#ironic (~1200 tweets, ~170/day) </li>
<li>ironically (~14000 tweets, ~2000/day) </li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>There is much playing to do with these data. Just quickly looking through the list of tweets obtained is fascinating.
For example, it's obvious that many of the tweets that are user-marked as ironic are examples of hypocrisy - maybe this is because it is an election year. It would be interesting to better quantify just what that fraction is, among other things.</p>
<p>Some of the samples of "self-marked irony" are included below.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Got a certificate this morning for Hugo completing his puppy training. And he's ripped it up. 😩#ironic</p>
<cite>(tweet id 703978717073293313</cite>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The irony of my lack of attention when trying to do some reading about attention</p>
<cite>(tweet id 704317070054465537)</cite>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>the irony of life</p>
<cite>(there seem to be lots of these; tweet id 704314264660475905)</cite>
</blockquote>
<!--
<blockquote>
<p>Oh the irony of it all</p>
<cite>(tweet id 704820251020505088)</cite>
</blockquote>
-->
<blockquote>
<p>the irony of walking out of the gym and lighting a smoke</p>
<cite>(tweet id 704450646439763968)</cite>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The irony of a 9am lecture on attitudes resulting in a very negative attitude</p>
<cite>(tweet id 704604911007305729)</cite>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The irony of watching a documentary about why I should cook as I eat a frozen pizza.</p>
<cite>(tweet id 706335709913866241)</cite>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Oh the irony of tweets</p>
<cite>(tweet id 704481709497028608)</cite>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I'm bored waiting to board... #ironic?</p>
<cite>(tweet id 705278919931461633</cite>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Tried to send a message saying "Ah, the perils of modern life." But no, my phone had to say "the peril sofa" #Ironic</p>
<cite>(tweet id 704684867133394944</cite>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Needed a spoon for my yogurt, only had knives. Isn't it #ironic @Alanis #donchathink #irony</p>
<cite>(tweet id 704666654244888576; btw, lots of Morissette shoutouts with the "isn't it ironic" search)</cite>
</blockquote>
<p>Obviously, one can also connect to the twitter streaming api to get new tweets with these terms to add to the database (and I need to do that), but the method used here could be used to fill gaps once that is set up.</p>
<div class="mySection">Notes on the Twitter Api Search</div>
<p>The reference for this information is
<a href="https://dev.twitter.com/rest/reference/get/search/tweets">https://dev.twitter.com/rest/reference/get/search/tweets </a>.
</p>
<ul>
<li>You can make up to 180 calls in a 15 minute window - this is at most once every 5 seconds</li>
<li>The most tweets you can get in a single call to the api is 100</li>
<li>The farthest back you can go is seven days</li>
<li>You can use the "until" parameter to get tweets created before the given date, where the date
should be formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD"</li>
<li>You can specify both a minimum ("since_id") and maximum ("max_id") tweet id for the search.
</ul>
</p>
</div>Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14801037354020825824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303671427363997166.post-20887649694638732042016-03-06T16:18:00.000-05:002016-03-06T18:12:33.829-05:00Uncanny Valley of the Neural Tickle of Irony
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<p>
This is a short mid-process note after starting to experiment with an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony#Verbal_irony">ironic simile</a> generator - that is, it is intended to generate statements a long the line of
<blockquote>
"as subtle as a sledgehammer"
</blockquote>
Notes on the process by which these statements are being automatically generated are <a href="http://thoughtsonirony.blogspot.com/2016/03/initial-experiments-with-automatically.html">here</a>.</p>
<p>Some of the generated statements are tweeted by <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/theironycat">@theironycat</a>.
</p>
<!--
<p>Bringing together disparate concepts that we have never encountered can be mildly funny, or simply head-scratching.
It is hard to separate the "I-made-this" factor from this effect, though. My wife generally doesn't appreciate them as much, which I think points to a stronger "I-made-this" factor than I would like.
<p>
-->
<p>The generated statements can be simply confusing, and some are simply similes (I think because the early-stage logic being used needs a lot of work). But some are such unusual constructs that they seem to force your brain to try to overlay a scenario that would have generated the statement, and the scenario itself then has an unnaturalness to it, like those "almost there" robots that are more creepy than anything else. The term "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley">uncanny valley</a>" has been applied to those robots. Animations can also have that effect ("Polar Express" did that for me).</p>
<p>Thus, this "uncanny valley" notion applies to some of the generated examples when assessing its degree of that "vague feeling of irony" you might be familiar with, which itself is kind of a "neural tickle".
</p>
<p>Below are a few examples that seemed to be from the uncanny valley of the neural tickle, or at least within its periphery. This assessment is obviously subjective.</p>
<p>Sometimes the statements, if the combination is odd enough, cause a neural tickle independent of any notion of irony. Some have a strange poignancy or imagery. These are included, too, because I like them.</p>
<a name='more'></a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As virtuous as wickedness</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706010487264321536">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As unloved as a lover</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706012758354083840">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As innocent as a sentence</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706174800436322306">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As late as a child prodigy</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706046390590447617">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As present as a yesterday</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706584707178373122">March 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As tasty as garishness</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706122170141970433">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As crooked as a crew neck</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706051145597390848">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As no-go as an off-day</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706053922750865408">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As sharp as an essence</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706566766101712898">March 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As spoken as a round hand</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/705966018997456896">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As wrong as a right hemisphere</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/705943746408554497">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As nonrandom as a fruit machine</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/705948727878524928">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<!--
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As misused as a renewal</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706560729445486593">March 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<!--
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As unprepared as a line of battle</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706213887264301056">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<!--
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As western as a green dragon</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/705956981555773441">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<!--
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As unconnected as a hookah</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706014016737550336">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<!--
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">As unsocial as an utopia</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706120408362307585">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<div class="tweet-wrapper-with-comment">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As informal as a bunfight</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706552313863917570">March 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<div class="tweet-wrapper-comment">
A "bunfight" used to mean <br/>a very fancy tea party.
</div>
</div>
<div class="tweet-wrapper-with-comment">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As incomplete as a layette</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706251572020441092">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<div class="tweet-wrapper-comment">
A layette is a "set of clothing, linens, <br/>and sometimes toiletries <br/>for a newborn child".
</div>
</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"As sensible as a golem" (pre-moby adjective = 'natural')</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/705994848369778688">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14801037354020825824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303671427363997166.post-23022255761285487282016-03-05T01:55:00.000-05:002016-03-06T15:28:14.037-05:00Initial Experiments with Automatically Generating Ironic Statements<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha256-7s5uDGW3AHqw6xtJmNNtr+OBRJUlgkNJEo78P4b0yRw= sha512-nNo+yCHEyn0smMxSswnf/OnX6/KwJuZTlNZBjauKhTK0c+zT+q5JOCx0UFhXQ6rJR9jg6Es8gPuD2uZcYDLqSw==" crossorigin="anonymous">
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<p>The other day, I came across a simple "ironic" phrase of the form below:
<blockquote>
<p>As subtle as a sledgehammer</p>
<cite>I saw this example in Tony Veale's "Detecting and Generating Ironic Comparisons:
An Application of Creative Information Retrieval".</cite>
</blockquote>
Seeing this made me wonder if interesting examples of this type could be automatically generated.
Veale mentions this in his paper, and he is looking at generating more sophisticated types of ironic statements.
I believe these are sometimes referred to as <i>ironic similes</i>.
<p>
<a name='more'></a>
<a class="twitter-timeline" href="https://twitter.com/theironycat" data-widget-id="706005145499377664">Tweets by @theironycat</a>
<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script>
<p>I put together a starter node.js project to try to do this. A sample of these are automatically tweeted on the twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat">@theironycat</a>. A live feed of these tweets is shown on the right.</p>
<p>A few of the initial ones that seemed kind of ok are shown below. There is a lot of room for improvement. </p>
<p>Technical details are further below.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As wrong as a right hemisphere</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/705943746408554497">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As small as a sperm whale</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706003477248479232">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As coarse as a wine lover</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/705943997722796032">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As short as rabbit ears</p>— Irony Cat (@theironycat) <a href="https://twitter.com/theironycat/status/706007000694530048">March 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<div style="clear:left;"></div>
<div class="mySection">Some Technical Details</div>
<p>The basic idea is as follows:
<ul>
<li>pick a random noun <span class="term">N</span></li>
<li>find adjectives that seem to be used to define the noun (and its synonyms)</li>
<li>find antonyms of those adjectives, and pick a random one <span class="term">A</span></li>
<li>use the phrase "As <span class="term">A</span> as a <span class="term">N</span>"</li>
</ul>
<div class="mySubSection">Picking a Random Noun</div>
<p>The list of nouns is taken from the Princeton's <a href="http://wordnet.princeton.edu">WordNet</a> database. The <a href="https://github.com/TMiguelT/wordnet-sqlite">wordnet-sqlite</a> node.js package is used to simplify working with the WordNet dictionary, whereby you can run basic sql commands to grab all of the adjectives and nouns. <a href="https://github.com/Planeshifter/node-wordnet-magic">wordnet-magic</a> is used to get detailed information from the dictionary for synonyms, definitions, and antonyms.
</p>
<div class="mySubSection">Getting Adjectives Describing the Noun and its Synonyms</div>
<p>This is an important step, and is where I think the most improvement can be made next. For now, I first get all of the words in all of the definitions of the word and its synonyms, and then find those words that are adjectives (using the <i>isAdjective</i> function that <a href="https://github.com/Planeshifter/node-wordnet-magic">wordnet-magic</a> has).
</p>
<p>Note: some of the words that WordNet considers "adjectives" are suspect (imo). I still need to filter out some of those.</p>
<div class="mySubSection">Finding Antonyms of the Adjectives</div>
<p>This is very simple, as I can use the <i>getAntonyms</i> method for each adjective that <a href="https://github.com/Planeshifter/node-wordnet-magic">wordnet-magic</a> provides.
</p>
<p>I also tried to use the <a href="https://github.com/zeke/moby">moby thesaurus</a> to get more synonyms for these antonyms, but while there was a wider range of words, the results seemed to be even less interesting (and often the synonyms for adjectives could be nouns).</p>
<div class="mySection">Some Notes so Far</div>
<p>Sometimes the generated phrases are pretty close, and even though others so far might not be much good yet, it frequently happens that the strange combination of diverse concepts can be humorous. I think the phrases can create neural connections or something that "tickles" your brain. The phrases can be more Fellini-esque than "ironic".</p>
<p>Sometimes the phrase is more of an accurate statement rather than ironic - for example, "as small as an urn". This just highlights the extra work I need to do on the adjective part.</p>
<p>So, next I'll see about making some improvements on the choice of the adjectives. </p>
<p>Comments welcome.</p>
</div>Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14801037354020825824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303671427363997166.post-89913637970411948562016-02-21T16:05:00.000-05:002016-03-26T21:59:13.638-04:00Towards a (Subjective) Numerical Categorization of Examples of Irony
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha256-7s5uDGW3AHqw6xtJmNNtr+OBRJUlgkNJEo78P4b0yRw= sha512-nNo+yCHEyn0smMxSswnf/OnX6/KwJuZTlNZBjauKhTK0c+zT+q5JOCx0UFhXQ6rJR9jg6Es8gPuD2uZcYDLqSw==" crossorigin="anonymous">
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<p>I am very interested in irony, despite their being confusing attempts to define and characterize it.
</p>
<p>I am embarking on a quest to categorize examples of irony based on numerical values for certain "properties" of the example. Ideally, I would eventually create a database of these categorizations.</p>
<p>The latest examples are embedded below (you can even submit your own). The full site is here:
<div style="margin-left:50px;"><a href="https://learnforeverlearn.com/ironycat/">https://learnforeverlearn.com/ironycat/</a>
</div>
</p>
<br/>
<!--
<p>Feel free to send me your own categorized examples.</p>
-->
<div style="float:right;">
<div class="quote-callout">
<blockquote><p>'irony is a “...semantically complex process of relating, differentiating, and combining said and unsaid meanings" ... this process of differentiation and relation involves a rapid oscillation between two different meanings.'
</p>
<cite>Wikipedia article on Linda Hutcheon's "Irony's Edge: The Theory and Politics of Irony"
</cite></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="quote-callout">
<blockquote><p>"Even though we have to look at irony through the lens of irony,
searching for its meaning gives deep insight into the ways people see
their own existence."
</p>
<cite>J. Keller, <a href="http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/irony.htm">irony</a>, in The University of Chicago Theories of Media Keywords Glossary
</cite></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="quote-callout">
<blockquote><p>"... irony is probably less understood now than ever."</p>
<cite>Jon Winokur, <i>The Big Book of Irony</i> (2013)</cite></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="quote-callout">
<blockquote><p>"Irony: the one form of humor that everyone thinks they understand, when actually no one really does.
<br/>
<br/>
It is the cleverest joke ever played on mankind."</p>
<cite>Dante Shepherd, <i><a href="http://survivingtheworld.net/Lesson618.html">Surviving the World #618 - Irony</a></i> (2013?)</cite></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="quote-callout" >
<blockquote><p>"... the fact that if irony were indeed a concept it should be possible to give a definition of irony. If one looks into the historic aspects of that problem, it seems to be uncannily difficult to give a definition of irony." </p>
<cite>Paul de Man, The Concept of Irony, in Aesthetic Ideology (1996)</cite>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="quote-callout">
<blockquote><p>"Irony. The opposite of wrinkly."</p>
<cite>Seen on t-shirts</cite></blockquote>
</div>
<!-- <p>Kierkegaard - "endless reflection and violent reversals"</p> -->
<!-- I think this is related to Socratic irony, which I am not really interested in
<div class="quote-callout">
<blockquote>
<p>"Irony entails endless reflection and violent reversals, and ensures incomprehensibility at the moment it compels speech."</p>
<cite>
Irony as infinite, absolute negativity, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony">Irony Article on Wikipedia</a>
</cite>
</blockquote>
</div>
-->
<div class="quote-callout">
<blockquote>
<p>"It's impossible to write or read about irony without either becoming ironic, falling victim to irony, or both.
Schlegel calls this effect 'Unverstandlichkeit,' the impossibility of understanding.
Kierkegaard provides us with a metaphor. Irony, like the greedy witch from a Danish fairy tale, must
eventually devour even its own stomach."
</p>
<cite>Jennifer Thompson, <i><a href="http://www.ajdrake.com/e456_spr_03/materials/guides/gd_irony_def.htm">Irony: a Few Simple Definitions</a>
(2003?, learned of via Winokur).</i></cite>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="quote-callout">
<blockquote>
<p>Is the difficulty in remembering ironic examples a property of irony's elusiveness itself?
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="quote-callout">
<blockquote>
This <a href="http://theoatmeal.com/comics/irony">Oatmeal cartoon</a> suggests that one of the main uses of the term "irony" is to "inspire massive threads of raging idiots on the internet to debate whether something is ironic or not."
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<!--
<p>A definition of irony that captures much (but not all!) of what I am interested in is this:
<blockquote>
<strong><i>poignantly contrary to expectations</i></strong>
</blockquote>
</p>
This captures two primary factors:
<ul>
<li><em>poignancy</em>: there may be some degree of (touching) emotion involved</li>
<li><em>contrary to expectations</em>: you are coming to the scenario with a rich context of beliefs and experience
that guide your expectations, and these expectations are subverted</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irony">This definition</a> from Merriam-Webster also captures some of what I am trying to wrap my arms around:
<blockquote>
<strong>incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result</strong>
</blockquote>
The word "incongruity" sheds another light here. It is useful because it does not imply much if any of an emotional component, and there can be a strong "feeling" to a situation that feels "ironic" without there necessarily being much emotion involved.
</p>
<p>Isn't "<i>incongruity</i>" the same thing as "<i>contrary to expectations</i>"? I don't think so, although incongruity would certainly involve your expectations being messed with in some way.
</p>
-->
<p>While difficult
to wrap one's arms around it with a satisfying definition, I sympathize with those who simply say "I know it when I see it."
</p>
<!-- And maybe these examples and their dissection will help to somewhat solidify things. -->
<p>When looking at an image or situation, there's a weird "feeling"/twinge surfaced: a <i>depth</i> of some kind that points you vaguely at an undercurrent of something.</p>
<p><strong>What is that twinge?</strong> </p>
<p>I came across an irony post on a Georgia Bulldogs blog:
<blockquote>
<p>The situation of the Georgia Bulldogs losing to the South Carolina Gamecocks is not ironic in and of itself, but when you consider that the scheduling mess actually ended up working in favor of the Gamecocks rather than against them...<strong>you felt it, right? That twinge that hits when you recognize irony?</strong> Or maybe that was just your stomach clenching in remembrance of our last game. <strong>That's why irony is so difficult to pin down sometimes: sometimes, with irony--especially situational irony--you just have to feel it.</strong>
</p>
<cite><a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/2012/10/19/3524796/reversal-of-expectations-an-odd-post-on-irony">Reversal of Expectations: An Odd Post on Irony</a> on <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/">http://www.dawgsports.com/</a> by Cherokee's Grip, Oct 19, 2012.
</cite>
</blockquote>
<p class="little-bigger"><strong>I want to try to quantify the different properties that comprise this feeling, this "twinge".</strong></p>
<p>Now, different examples of what I am looking for will have different degrees and dimensions of this vague feeling. The strength of this feeling will vary, they may or may not be humorous. In fact, both the initial strength of impression and "humor" are simply additional properties.
<!--
<p>This blog will be devoted to examples of what I consider irony; rather, I have begun to characterize examples of whatever flavor of "irony" it is I am interested in.</p>
-->
<!--
<div class="quote-callout" style="float:right;">
<blockquote>
<p>"... a delicate casting of a cool and illuminating light in life..."</p>
<cite>
Robertson Davies, The Cunning Man (1994),
referring to "drye mock" in George Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie (1589) (via Winokur)</cite>
</blockquote>
</div>
-->
<p>
The examples have values for different properties, or features, associated with the example's effect. Not only are the values for the properties subjective, but the definition of the properties themselves are as well:
<ul>
<li>"twinge factor": the strength of that feeling associated with the "recognition" of irony</li>
<li>First through preattentive response (such as "ha!")</li>
<li> poignancy</li>
<li> incongruity</li>
<li> recursiveness, sharp contrast, that can result in a strange (and sometimes almost uncontrollable) mental fluttering and re-review of the scenario in the example </li>
<li>contradiction</li>
<li> reversal of expectations</li>
<li>unexpectedness - there is a knowledge/background assumed of the audience that is being subverted
</li>
<li> strength of preattentive/immediate response</li>
<li>"It figures"/"Sc, a la Alanis Morisette\'s \'Ironic\'
<li> humor</li>
<li> emotion (although this might be captured by poignancy)</li>
<li> sadness</li>
<!-- Leave this one out <li> power</li> -->
<li> deus ex machina: the Gods are messing with you <!-- , a la <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony">Irony on wikipedia</a> -->
</li>
<li> cosmic karma/just desserts - the universe saw that this should happen so as to even things somehow </li>
<!-- <li> imagery</li> -->
<li>hypocrisy (this added Mar 7, 2016, after noticing how many people associate hypocrisy with irony)</li>
</ul>
The properties may be modified or change as I continue to poke at this. Not all examples necessarily have values for all of these
properties.
</p>
<!--
<p>Merriam-Webster: - incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result.</p>
<p>The common thread here is an elusiveness that itself is hard to articulate.</p>
<p>For images, these certain are a form of "visual Irony", as Winokur describes, "an object or image contradicts itself."</p>
-->
<p>Of course, this may be a doomed quest, destined to the fate of Schlegel, as far as J.A. Dane is concerned:</p>
<div class="iquote-callout" style="border:none;">
<blockquote>
<p><i>
"He is trapped in his (discussion of) irony... his irony has turned on
him; his (catalog of) irony has grown wild and can no longer be
controlled."</i>
</p>
<cit>J.A. Dane, p. 115, The Critical Mythology of Irony, 1991
University of Georgia Press</cite>
</blockquote>
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<p>The latest examples from <a href="https://learnforeverlearn.com/ironycat">https://learnforeverlearn.com/ironycat</a> are embedded below. All ratings are on a scale of 0 to 10, and are completely subjective.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Stop_Defacing_Signs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img width="200" border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Stop_Defacing_Signs.jpg" /></a></div>
(image from <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stop_Defacing_Signs.jpg">Wikipedia</a>, by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Scheinwerfermann">Scheinwerfermann</a>
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<p>This is a funny one, with a subversive tint.</p>
</p>For me, it has a high "flipping back and forth" effect on my head.</p>
<ul class="irony-categorization">
<li> strength of that "vague feeling": 6</li>
<li> incongruity: 2</li>
<li>recursiveness: 8</li>
<li> poignancy: 1</li>
<li> contrariness to expectations:8</li>
<li> subversiveness:8</li>
<li> humor: 8</li>
<li> emotion: 2</li>
<li> imagery: 2</li>
<li> sadness: 0</li>
<li> power: 5</li>
<li> cosmic karma: 0</li>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbqZ5AOUkAAExOW.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img width="300" border="0" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbqZ5AOUkAAExOW.jpg:large" /></a></div>
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<p>This is a funny one.</p>
<p>We expect a college of architecture and planning to be competent at both. Unusually, this one is apparently not.</p>
<ul class="irony-categorization">
<li> strength of that "vague feeling": 4</li>
<li> incongruity: 8</li>
<li>recursiveness: 1</li>
<li> poignancy: 2</li>
<li> contrariness to expectations:8</li>
<li> subversiveness:0</li>
<li> humor: 8</li>
<li> emotion: 0</li>
<li> imagery: 1</li>
<li> sadness: 0</li>
<li> power: 5</li>
<li> cosmic karma: 0</li>
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You laugh at a person who slipped stepping on a banana peel and the next thing you know, you slipped too (from <a href="http://literarydevices.net/irony/">http://literarydevices.net/irony/</a>).
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<li> strength of that "vague feeling": 2</li>
<li> incongruity: 1</li>
<li> contrariness to expectations:0 (we don't really have any expectations either way, do we?)</li>
<li> cosmic karma: 8</li>
<li> humor: 3</li>
<li> recursiveness: 0</li>
<li> poignancy: 0</li>
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Adolph Coors III, heir to the Coors beer empire, was allergic to beer.
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<li> incongruity: 5</li>
<li> strength of that "vague feeling": 3</li>
<li> contrariness to expectations:4</li>
<li> cosmic karma: 0</li>
<li> humor: 3</li>
<li> recursiveness: 1</li>
<li> poignancy: 0</li>
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I posted a video on YouTube about how boring and useless YouTube is.
(from <a href="http://literarydevices.net/irony/">http://literarydevices.net/irony/</a>).
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<ul>
<li> strength of that "vague feeling": 2</li>
<li> incongruity: 5</li>
<li> contrariness to expectations:0 (we don't really have any expectations either way, do we?)</li>
<li> cosmic karma: 0</li>
<li> humor: 2</li>
<li> recursiveness: 1</li>
<li> poignancy: 0</li>
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There can also be an inner conflict as your mind flutters between the illusion
of whether it is a rabbit or a duck, our mind comes seeing it one way and may then flicker almost uncontrollably between
the two views. This "mental flipping" in fact is what I consider to be an aspect of Kierkegaard's "endless reflection and violent reversals."
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Duck-Rabbit_illusion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img width="250" border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Duck-Rabbit_illusion.jpg" /></a>
<div class="image-title">A rabbit or a duck?
<br/>used in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony%27s_Edge">wikipedia article on Linda Hutcheon's <br/> <i>Irony's Edge: The Theory and Politics of Irony</i> (1994)</a>
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