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Irony

Posted by Smokey Stover on November 14, 2007

In Reply to: Irony posted by Bruce Kahl on November 14, 2007

: : : : : What does the this mean when someone says it to another perIronyson... Don't do anything that I wouldn't do?

: : : : It means "Behave yourself." The doings that the listener is to avoid are unspecified bad actions. Sometimes it's said ironically. ~rb

: : : Isn't it usually said ironically? Pamela

: : My experience with it isn't broad enough to say. It may be said without irony in old writings. ~rb

: No irony at all.
: I heard that phrase a lot growing up in the NYC area in the 50s and 60s.
: Most of the time it was just a way of saying "take it easy".
: My father amplified it a bit by saying "Don't do anything you can't take a picture of".

I think it's a little under-ironic to be called irony. I'd rather call it attempted humor, like the valedictory, "Be good. And if you can't be good, be careful. And if you can't be careful, name it after me."
SS

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