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MISUSED WORDS: WHEN SMART PEOPLE LOOK DUMB
BBC CAPITAL: LANGUAGE
"Ironic v coincidental. A lot of people get this wrong. If you break your leg the day before a ski trip, that’s not ironic — it’s coincidental (and bad luck)…. If you drive up to the mountains to ski, and there was more snow back at your house, that’s ironic."
“[US author] O Henry was a master of situational irony. In The Gift of the Magi, Jim sells his watch to buy combs for his wife’s hair, and she sells her hair to buy a chain for Jim’s watch. Each character sold something precious to buy a gift for the other, but those gifts were intended for what the other person sold. That is true irony.”
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150604-when-smart-people-look-dumb
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