San Francisco Man Becomes First American To Grasp Significance Of Irony

[Ozkaban]

SAN FRANCISCO - We spoke to Jay Fullmer, 38, who became the first American to get to grips with the concept of irony yesterday.

"It was weird," Fullmer said, "I was in London and, like, talking to this guy and it was raining and stuff and he said, like, great weather, or something like that."

Said Fullmer: "And I thought - wait a minute, it's like, no way is it great weather."

Fullmer soon realised that the other man's 'mistake' was deliberate.

"This guy was pretty cool about it," Fullmer said.

Fullmer, who is 39 next month and married with two children, aged 8 and 3, planned to use irony himself in future.

"I'm like saying it all the time." he said. "Weekend last I was like grilling steaks and I like burned them to s**t and I said 'great weather'."


[no real offence intended to our American friends...]

[Pheonix]

Been on the gungy again?

[Batpig]

That is Sweet, Ozkaban. Sweet...

Cheerio,
Batpig.

[dimma20]

A good laugh!
John

[Zed]

why apologies to the yanks for ?

they are not all stupid

[Honorary Bloke]

Great weather, eh?

[scooter]

I like it.

[boban]

And I thought that was sarcasm, the lowest form of wit......

Irony is something different again.

Either is lost on seppos

[switt775]

A workmate paid me a great compliment last year. I made some comment about how well a project was going, and she paused a second, then said "That's right, you're Canadian". When I asked for an explanation, she said in her experience, Americans don't understand irony. The subtlety escapes them, but Canadians like Aussies seem to have the knack.

So it's not about smart or stupid, it's about subtle nuances, which is either part of your culture, or it isn't.