this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
270 points (94.4% liked)
Funny
15050 readers
520 users here now
General rules:
- Be kind.
- All posts must make an attempt to be funny.
- Obey the general sh.itjust.works instance rules.
- No politics or political figures. There are plenty of other politics communities to choose from.
- Don't post anything grotesque or potentially illegal. Examples include pornography, gore, animal cruelty, inappropriate jokes involving kids, etc.
Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the mods.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I have to wonder if anyone involved in that album - the producer, the audio engineer, the kid who changes the guitar strings - anyone - thought to stop her and say, “Hey, this is the incorrect use of the word, you’re setting yourself up for decades of ridicule.” Like, did they not know either? Were they all afraid of her?
Though…the meta aspect of this is that a song called “Ironic” that misuses the word is actually…kinda ironic. Maybe that was the real artistry at work and we all just missed it. 🤷🏻
I bet if They Might Be Giants wrote the song more people would get the joke.
All these years later they're still missing the joke, but they're still talking about it. That's some kind of consolation prize.
That song taught me that no matter what you're describing, if you call something "ironic" somebody will correct you.
Ironic, isn't it?
Like the Tragedy of Darth Plagius the Wise?
No
"Though…the meta aspect of this is that a song called “Ironic” that misuses the word is actually…kinda ironic. Maybe that was the real artistry at work and we all just missed it. 🤷🏻"
Pretty sure this was intentional. A song named Ironic that doesn't have any actual examples of irony is in itself ironic. That's the joke.
may it be that it's not the described situations that are ironic but life itself ? Life is using irony to tell Alanis something
Regardless, we are still generating buzz about the song decades later, so the decision has worked at some level
A barely recognized singer songwriter that was a wafer-thin smoker whose hair represented 30% of her body weight?
I’d be afraid I’d knock her over if I talked too loud.
Barely recognized? Didn't this album go like multi platinum?
That's what I choose to believe. It's ironic that "Ironic" contains no actual irony.
Haha, yes this has been nagging me since the release. Still a good song, though.
The fact you typed all this out without recognizing that Jagged Little Pill is probably one of the most iconic Canadian music albums of the entire 90s is pretty fascinating.
Like.... Tell me how little you know about the significance of it..
Even more iconic than Robin Sparkles?
Wasn't it the best selling album from a female artist in the world for a bit?