isn't it ironic ... or is it

I think that the word ironic is terribly over used. Today I heard the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette and it reminded me of a conversation with my brother on the subject of irony. Basically nothing in the song is a correct example of irony.

It's like rain on your wedding day - not irony
It's a free ride when you've already paid - not irony
It's the good advice that you just didn't take - not irony
A traffic jam when you're already late - not irony
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break - not irony
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife - not irony
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife - and, you guessed it not irony

Things that suck and things that are coincidental are not necessarily ironic.

Good examples of irony are:

A diabetic who is desperately seeking insulin crosses the street and is run over by a truck carrying insulin.

You break a date with your girlfriend so you can go to the ball game with the guys. When you go to the concession stand, you run into her on a date with another guy.

A seal is rescued from an oil spill, much care and money are spent to rehabilitate the animal, one minute after the seal is released back into the ocean it is eaten by a whale.

A psychology student rents out her spare room to a carpenter in order to nag him constantly and study his reactions. After weeks of needling, he snapped and beat her repeatedly with an axe, leaving her mentally retarded.

Iraqi terrorist Khay Rahnajet didn't pay enough postage on a letter bomb. It came back with "return to sender" stamped on it. Forgetting it was the bomb, he opened it and was blown to bits.