IRONIC by Alanis Morisette

Irony is just honesty with the volume cranked up.

George Saunders

A) Discussion questions:
1. Is Irony used to hurt peoples feelings or to be amusing?
2. In what kind of situations do you use it? Who do you usually use it with? IRONY
Just when you thought it
3. Tell your partner about ironic situations that have happened to you in your everyday could never happen
life.

B) Vocabulary. Match the words with their meanings

1. Chardonnay a) (spoken) used before a kind of behavior as a humorous name for a man who has that
2. Death row pardon quality.
3. Mr. b) A long line of vehicles on a road that cannot move, or that can only move very slowly.
4. Sneak up on sb c) To officially allow a prisoner to be free without being punished by being killed.
5. Help sb out d) To come near sb very quietly so they do not see you until you reach them.
6. Blow up (blew, blown) e) Champagne.
7. Traffic jam f) To give support or help to sb who has problems or who is very busy.
g) To destroy sb, or to be destroyed, by an explosion.

C) Fill in the blanks with the words above

Example: I dont think we need any comments from Mr. Sarcasm here.

1. Rebels attempted to ________________ the bridge.

2. Dont ______________like that! You gave me quite a shock.
3. There was a murderer on _____________.
4. Is there anything I can do to_______________?
5. We were stuck in a _____________for two hours.

D) Read the first two lines of the song. Is this situation ironic to you?

An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery and died the next day.

Match the lines in column A with the ones in column B. Listen and check.

A B
1. Its a black fly
2. Its a death row pardon a. when youve already paid.
Isnt it ironic, dont you think? b. that you just didnt take.
3. Its like rain c. two minutes too late.
4. Its a free ride d. on your wedding day.
5. Its the good advice e. in your Chardonnay.
Who wouldve thoughtit figures.

E) Translate these lines into English. Listen and compare

Seor Seguro tena miedo de volar, empac su maleta y se despidi de sus chicos con un beso.
Esper toda su maldita vida para tomar ese vuelo y mientras el avin se estrellaba el pens bueno, No es esto lindo...?
No es esto irnico? No crees?
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F) Fill in the blanks using some of the verbs in exercise B. Listen and check

Well, life has a funny way of ___________________ you

when you think everythings okay and everythings going right.
And life has a funny way of ____________ you ______
when you think everythings gone wrong and everything _______________ in your face.

Do you agree with this idea of life?

G) Complete the following sentences with possible ideas (they have to be ironic). Listen and compare

A ____________ when you are already late.

A ________________ on your cigarette break.
Its like ten thousand _________ when all you need is a knife.
Its meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his ______________.
Isnt it ironic? Dont you think

Has any of these things ever happened to you? Can you think of other examples?

H) Use the melody of this song and change the lyrics in order to adapt it to your own life

Isn't Ironic, do ya think

No I don't think. People overuse and more importantly misuse the word ironic. Irony is when the opposite happens of what is
expected. Alanis Morisette said it worst in her popular song "Ironic".

An old man turned ninety-eight

He won the lottery and died the next day
Not ironic. It sucks that the guy died, and you can get more chardonnay, but its not
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
ironic, just bad luck.
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
Isn't it ironic... don't you think
Rain sucks. But its only ironic if you lived somewhere rainy and went to the desert to
get married expecting to avoid the rain and it rained anyway but was dry in the place
chorus:
you originally were from. And who pays for a ride before you take the ride. And if it
It's like rain on your wedding day
was free, wouldn't they have given you your money back. If not it wasn't ever a free
It's a free ride when you've already paid
ride. Who doesn't take good advice. And even if you didnt, its not ironic, its dumb.
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
The only irony would be on the part of the person who gave the advice. It's ironic that
Who would've thought... it figures
they told you what to do and they expected you to, but because you didn't you got
screwed.
Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye Of course he waited his whole life to take that flight. No one can take a flight before
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight the present or in the future. No matter what you do your whole life is still behind you.
And as the plane crashed down he thought Still not ironic, just sucks. Not ironic cause he expected to be in a crash. Thats why
"Well, isn't this nice." he was scared. And rightly so apparently.
And isn't it ironic ... don't you think
Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's
going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything
blows up in your face

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
A little too ironic.. and yeah I really do think...
Well if you are already late then it serves you right to get even later. People don't
know how to be punctual anymore. Cause if they weren't late they would have gotten
ahead of the traffic. Smoking is bad for you anyway. Pop on that nicorette patch and
stop polluting my air, oxygen theif. Who the hell has 10,000 spoons? Is this like some
delivery mess-up at BJ's or Sam's Club. You gotta buy them in bulk, but they don't sell
knives. Sounds more like a school thing now, with the damn zero tolerance even a
butter knife is a weapon and it gets you suspended. But thats a different rant entirely.

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you

What part of this helped anyone out? That just doesnt make sense, and more
And life has a funny way of helping you out
importantly STILL ISNT IRONIC.
Helping you out

Why can't people learn English? Those wacky Canadians.

Don't even get me started on Ebonics.
It sucks: used to say that sth is very bad
Dumb: stupid
Mess-up / Screw sth up: to do sth badly or spoil sth
It serves you right: used to say that sth that has happened to
sb is their own fault and they deserve it
Bulk: the large size or quantity of sth
Damn: a swear word that people use to show that they are
annoyed, disappointed, etc. (also, dammit)
Wacky: funny or amusing in a slightly crazy way
Get started on: to begin to complain about sth or criticize sb