Isn’t it ironic

We’re standing in line at a local thrift shop, it is a strange place to teach a boy about irony. Now, irony is hard to explain to anyone, anywhere. It’s particularly difficult in a shop full of cheep stuff to a 7 year old.


Perhaps you’re trying now, in your head, to explain the concept of irony. What would you say?


“It’s like when you mean one thing, but you say the opposite.” “Irony is when there is a humorous or irreverent twist on the truth.” “It could be one thing but it’s not, it’s something else, but the particular something else is specific in comparison to all the other somethings that it could have been.” How ironic.


It’s like rain on your wedding day.
It’s the free ride when you’re already there.
It’s the good advice which you just didn’t take.


You know, it was hard for Alanis too.


Anyway, the boy had chosen a toy for $5, it was called Charade and came in a square box. This isn’t charades, but some other game of tricks and subterfuge. As we were standing in line to buy the game he started to gently shake the box. It’s a second hand store, this is good policy. After a gentle shake, I watched his brow furrow, then he shook it harder.


The rattle was wrong. Not enough action. I watched him pry the corner and peek. The furrow deepened. The box was empty. Charade was missing some kind of square toy inside. The box was a trick, a gambit. This game of Charade was actually a charade itself. A classic case of irony. We put the empty box back and walked out a little richer in understanding.


Probably.