“Mr. play it safe was afraid to fly, he packed up his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye. He waited he whole damn life just to take that flight, and as the plane crashed down, he thought well isnt this nice.”

thats irony, because he was afraid to fly because he thought the plane he rode would crash, and the only time he ever rode a plane, it crashed.

Those Canadians are a tricky bunch.

THAT, my friends, is ironic.

why is there a crazy person in the back of her car?

The rest of the song, however, is not ironic, which can also count as dramatic irony because an unsuspecting Alanis Morissette thinks it is.

Thanks.

That actually is irony. but it’s the only one.

Even more ironic: the train he takes gets crushed by a crashing plane.

Re: Rain on Wedding Day…
NOT ironic. If you don’t consider the fact that it might rain on your wedding day, you’re just unprepared & it’s unfortunate.
IRONIC = You really want an outdoor wedding but you worry about rain. So, you get married in a banquet hall. It winds up being a beautiful day, but the sprinkler system inside the banquet hall goes off and soaks your wedding.

The definition of irony being the opposite of what’s expected… I suppose that’s a lesser-known use of the word (as “ak” explained above… she/he knows a lot more about the subject than I), but it is definitely not what was taught in literature class (sounds like that was dramatic irony?). I still think Alanis didn’t know what the heck she was talking about. I think there is more to it than the dictionary definitions are conveying… maybe connotation vs denotation?

someone did back when it came out, his name is Ed Byrne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT1TVSTkAXg

Which is pretty much the whole song. So now most of you have tried to sound intelligent, with this contempt for classic song-writing, and you’ve done nothing more than EPIC’Failed. I think Miss Morissette is owed an apology.

Also – no, Alanis Morissette did not intentionally write this so that the entire song would be ‘ironic’, in that it contained no irony. She’s not that clever. Nice try though.

Seeing as how you clearly did not, let me do the work for you. As defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, “irony” is “Poignantly contrary to what was expected or intended: madness, an ironic fate for such a clear thinker.”

As someone much more well-spoken than I once said “To be positive is to be wrong at the top of one’s lungs.” I believe that saying applies to your comment.

First, there are at least two parts that are ironic, the first being the plane crashing after the guy never got on a plane all his life, and the second is the virbal irony of saying “Well, isn’t this nice”.

Second, they’re all ironic if you’re optomistic and assume things tend to go well. They’re fitting if you’re pessimistic. They’re only “unfortunate” if you’re a realist who doesn’t believe in that sort of irony.

Rain on your wedding day isn’t ironic. Living in Seattle and having a wedding in Arizona which gets rained on… now THAT’S ironic.