“That is so ironic!” “What a coincidence!” We hear these English phrases all of the time. What do they mean? Irony and coincidence are often confused by English speakers, so it can obviously be very confusing for English learners!
Coincidence vs. Irony in English
What is a coincidence? A coincidence is when two unlikely activities share similarities. For example, you and your friend meet at the mall and you are wearing the same shirt. What a coincidence! Or you and your best friend discover that in your childhood, you had the same breed of dog with the same name. Coincidental!
Coincidence is often confused with situational irony. Situational irony is when the end of a situation is VERY different than what you would expect. For example: Your hairdresser has really, really bad hair. Your dentist has terrible teeth. Your French grammar teacher makes mistakes when speaking French. The winner of the national spelling bee misspells a simple word. An apple farmer hates apples. In each of these examples, you would expect a certain situation or characteristic from these people. Instead, you get the opposite. Surprising! And ironic!
Here is an example of how an English speaker might (incorrectly) use irony: “My friend and I found out that we went to the same high school, and we had the same breed of dog when we were children. How ironic!” This is not irony. This is just a coincidence.
So why are these two concepts so often confused? Who knows. Lets check your understanding of the two. Are following stories coincidental or ironic?
Coincidence or Irony?
1. You friend falls. You laugh at him. And then you fall.
2. Your friend’s father is a gardener, but all of the plants at your friend’s house are dying.
3. You have a fear of long words. The name for this fear is Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. (No joke!)
4. A chili farmer hates spicy food.
5. A man named “Art” is an artist.
Answers
1. You friend falls. You laugh at him. And then you fall.
Coincidence. What do you expect in this situation? You cannot expect to fall simply because you laughed at your friend. Although you probably deserve to fall since  you laughed! Just kidding.
2. Your friend’s father is a gardener, but all of the plants at your friend’s house are dying.
Ironic. You would expect your friend’s house to have beautiful, lush plants, right? It is ironic that the house is full of brown, sickly plants.
3. You have a fear of long words. The name for this fear is Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. (No joke!)
Ironic. What would you expect the name for the fear of long words to be? Probably something short! Therefore, this is ironic.
4. A chili farmer hates spicy food.
Ironic. You would probably expect the chili farmer to have a love (or at least a small enjoyment) of chilies. This is not the case, so it is ironic.
5. A man named “Art” is an artist.
Coincidence. What can you expect from a man named Art? Nothing, really . . . except that his name is Art. Since we cannot predict anything from the name, we cannot have a surprise prediction. Therefore, we cannot have irony.
Are you still have difficulties determining if a situation is coincidence or irony? Check out Isitironic.com. The entire site is dedicated to helping people decide if a situation is ironic. Tell the readers your story and then let readers vote on whether or not the situation is ironic.