Ironic Deaths

[Boudicca 702]

<editing from 2018> 

 

BHB asked me to start this. I've forgotten why, but quite possibly there was drink taken and / or an embargo on pointless new threads.

 

how times have changed  

 

Anyway, it's his and has stood the test of time. BHB's legacy or summat.

[Brinsworth House Baiter 12]

Thanks Bou.

 

I just had to share this & apologies if someone has already mentioned this, but I was kinda losing the will to live using the search facility.

 

This was in the Sun today...doubt there's a link anywhere so I'll type it in:

 

CLIMBER,79, DIES

 

A man died of a heart attack hours after texting his wife to say he had fulfilled his dream of climbing a mountain.

 

Geoffrey Haworth, 79, had wanted to scale Majorca's 1,840 ft. Morey mountain since he & wife Kath bought a flat nearby 20 years ago.

 

The ex-school's inspector achieved his goal while on holiday with friends & immediately sent a text to Kath, 77, back home in the UK.

 

But friends later found Geoffrey, from Eaton, Norfolk, dead in his flat.

 

Kath said: "He was so pleased he had finally done the climb."

 

 

 

 

What a lovely story and well worth all the crap I shall no doubt endure for starting a new thread...

[Tempus Fugit 214]

A link courtesy of The Norwich Evening news.

[Phantom 2,550]

Thanks Bou.

 

I just had to share this & apologies if someone has already mentioned this, but I was kinda losing the will to live using the search facility.

 

This was in the Sun today...doubt there's a link anywhere so I'll type it in:

 

CLIMBER,79, DIES

 

A man died of a heart attack hours after texting his wife to say he had fulfilled his dream of climbing a mountain.

 

Geoffrey Haworth, 79, had wanted to scale Majorca's 1,840 ft. Morey mountain since he & wife Kath bought a flat nearby 20 years ago.

 

The ex-school's inspector achieved his goal while on holiday with friends & immediately sent a text to Kath, 77, back home in the UK.

 

But friends later found Geoffrey, from Eaton, Norfolk, dead in his flat.

 

Kath said: "He was so pleased he had finally done the climb."

 

 

 

 

What a lovely story and well worth all the crap I shall no doubt endure for starting a new thread...

 

The Norwich Evening News have it on their website

 

damn TF beat me to it

[Brinsworth House Baiter 12]

A link courtesy of The Norwich Evening news.

 

Much obliged, sir.

 

'Tis always nice to be able to put a face to a tragedy.

[Canadian Paul 97]

Thanks Bou.

 

I just had to share this & apologies if someone has already mentioned this, but I was kinda losing the will to live using the search facility.

 

This was in the Sun today...doubt there's a link anywhere so I'll type it in:

 

CLIMBER,79, DIES

 

A man died of a heart attack hours after texting his wife to say he had fulfilled his dream of climbing a mountain.

 

Geoffrey Haworth, 79, had wanted to scale Majorca's 1,840 ft. Morey mountain since he & wife Kath bought a flat nearby 20 years ago.

 

The ex-school's inspector achieved his goal while on holiday with friends & immediately sent a text to Kath, 77, back home in the UK.

 

But friends later found Geoffrey, from Eaton, Norfolk, dead in his flat.

 

Kath said: "He was so pleased he had finally done the climb."

 

 

 

 

What a lovely story and well worth all the crap I shall no doubt endure for starting a new thread...

 

That sucks, but I don't think it quite qualifies as irony... but I'm sure there's bigger grammar Nazis than me out there who can verify that...

 

Irony is more like, well... let's say you write an article about how safe a certain neighborhood in your city is, and then get murdered in it the day the article comes out.

 

Am I right or not?

[Guest Alanis Morisette]

That sucks, but I don't think it quite qualifies as irony... but I'm sure there's bigger grammar Nazis than me out there who can verify that...

 

Irony is more like, well... let's say you write an article about how safe a certain neighborhood in your city is, and then get murdered in it the day the article comes out.

 

Am I right or not?

No, I disagree.

 

Isn't it like, um, rain on your wedding day?

 

Or... a free ride when you're already late?

 

Or...

[Life Begins at 5 o'clock 7]

That sucks, but I don't think it quite qualifies as irony... but I'm sure there's bigger grammar Nazis than me out there who can verify that...

 

Irony is more like, well... let's say you write an article about how safe a certain neighborhood in your city is, and then get murdered in it the day the article comes out.

 

Am I right or not?

No, I disagree.

 

Isn't it like, um, rain on your wedding day?

 

Or... a free ride when you're already late?

 

Or...

 

I beg to differ with you. I think irony is actually something like the relationship between knives and spoons as they are connected through the desire of an individual. The probabilty of getting a green light when you are already hopelessly behind schedule also provides clues as to the nature of irony. But that is for philosophers.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,365]

If someone was killed by an iron falling on their head would that be an ironic death ?

 

If there was a strike in a Birds Eye Peas factory and then the staff entered negotiations with the management, would it be called a processed peas peace process?

[Brinsworth House Baiter 12]

Thanks Bou.

 

I just had to share this & apologies if someone has already mentioned this, but I was kinda losing the will to live using the search facility.

 

This was in the Sun today...doubt there's a link anywhere so I'll type it in:

 

CLIMBER,79, DIES

 

A man died of a heart attack hours after texting his wife to say he had fulfilled his dream of climbing a mountain.

 

Geoffrey Haworth, 79, had wanted to scale Majorca's 1,840 ft. Morey mountain since he & wife Kath bought a flat nearby 20 years ago.

 

The ex-school's inspector achieved his goal while on holiday with friends & immediately sent a text to Kath, 77, back home in the UK.

 

But friends later found Geoffrey, from Eaton, Norfolk, dead in his flat.

 

Kath said: "He was so pleased he had finally done the climb."

 

 

 

 

What a lovely story and well worth all the crap I shall no doubt endure for starting a new thread...

 

That sucks, but I don't think it quite qualifies as irony... but I'm sure there's bigger grammar Nazis than me out there who can verify that...

 

Irony is more like, well... let's say you write an article about how safe a certain neighborhood in your city is, and then get murdered in it the day the article comes out.

 

Am I right or not?

 

I'm not sure, but I personally thought that the fact that the poor sod always dreamt of climbing this mountain & that, when he finally did so, he died shortly after, was pretty ironic.

 

The point was that I thought it was worthy of sharing, wasn't sure where to place it & after consulting a mod finally placed it here. At the time the title ironic deaths struck me as more concise than 'deaths that suck but I don't think they quite qualify as irony.'

 

And the fact that I have caused Canadian Paul to start mass debating, quite frankly, makes me feel dirty.

[Star Crossed 33]

No, I disagree.

 

Isn't it like, um, rain on your wedding day?

 

Or... a free ride when you're already late?

 

Or...

Thanks, Alanis. A classy post. Unlike this one, which could be perceived as whoring, if only anyone cared. How ironic! I gave some good advice here, which I just didn't take.

[The Four Horsemen 26]

I always thought the fact that Yuri Gagarin died in a plane crash was a perfect example of irony........

[Godot 149]

Here's an example of an ironic death from a gravestone in Pennsylvania:

 

 

 

The grave of Ellen Shannon in Girard, Pennsylvania

Who was fatally burned

March 21, 1870

by the explosion of a lamp

filled with "R.E. Danforth's

Non-Explosive Burning Fluid"

[TLC 9]

Here's an example of an ironic death from a gravestone in Pennsylvania:

 

 

The grave of Ellen Shannon in Girard, Pennsylvania

Who was fatally burned

March 21, 1870

by the explosion of a lamp

filled with "R.E. Danforth's

Non-Explosive Burning Fluid"

Would have been even more ironic if was E. Shannon's Non-Explosive Burning Fluid.

[Canadian Paul 97]

Here's an example of an ironic death from a gravestone in Pennsylvania:

 

 

 

The grave of Ellen Shannon in Girard, Pennsylvania

Who was fatally burned

March 21, 1870

by the explosion of a lamp

filled with "R.E. Danforth's

Non-Explosive Burning Fluid"

 

Godot my good man, if my trite understanding of the English language is correct, I believe you're closest. It would be especially ironic if she had bought that fluid specifically because of a fear of lamp explosions.

 

Wikipedia has a good article on irony I think, even though I know a lot of people raise (very legitimate) questions about relying on Wikipedia as a source of anything. I think it sets the stage fairly well though. When I learned about it, we were shown a movie about a man who was trying to get arrested to get into jail so that he could have a warm meal for Christmas. Yet no matter what he tried he failed. At the end of the film, he has a revelation that he should be doing something with his life instead of trying to leech off society for free meals. As he gets up on a podium and shouts out his revelation to the people of the town, he is arrested for "causing a public nuisance" and is sent to jail.

[The Four Horsemen 26]

I could never work out if Alanis Morrisette went for deliberate irony in "Ironic" on the grounds that none of her ironic examples were actually ironic at all, just unlucky?

[Star Crossed 33]

I could never work out if Alanis Morissette went for deliberate irony in "Ironic" on the grounds that none of her ironic examples were actually ironic at all, just unlucky?

At considerable risk from accusations of pedantry, I have compiled a cursory examination of irony/bad luck in the examples cited by Ms. Morissette, as follows...

 

An old man turned ninety-eight/

He won the lottery and died the next day - Bad Luck

It's a black fly in your Chardonnay - Bad Luck

It's a death row pardon two minutes too late - Irony

And isn't it ironic...dontcha think - Well, the jury's still out on that one, Alanis

It's like rain on your wedding day - Bad Luck

It's a free ride when you've already paid - Irony

It's the good advice that you just didn't take - Bad Luck, or maybe just bad judgement

Who would've thought...it figures - Hmmm...

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly / He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye / He waited his whole damn life to take that flight / And as the plane crashed down he thought / "Well isn't this nice..." - Bad Luck tinged with a melancholy irony

And isn't it ironic...dontcha think - Sometimes, Alanis, yes...

[chorus]

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 - Irony

A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break - Irony

It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife - Irony tinged with surreality

It's meeting the man of my dreams / And then meeting his beautiful wife - Bad Luck and irony in equal measure

And isn't it ironic...dontcha think / A little too ironic...and yeah I really do think... - Yes, I partially agree, Alanis

[chorus]

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you / Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out / Helping you out - Yes, indeed...

 

So, it seems that "Ironic" contains examples of both irony and bad luck, with elements of other subjective states in addition.

 

The author accepts that subjectivity is employed in the interpretation of irony and, therefore, accepts that others' views may differ.

[Newfie 0]

I'm trying to find a source on this one, as it was a few years ago, but there was a young adult in the US who quite fits the ironic death.

 

He was very much anti-seatbelt, and wrote a rather long article for his local newspaper about how laws requiring the use of seatbelts in moving vehicles were an infringement of his rights.

 

He died in a car crash. There were several other people in the vehicle, all of whom walked away with only minor injuries. They were wearing seatbelts. He wasn't, because it was a violation of his rights.

 

He was flung from the vehicle and killed.

 

Oops?

[Brinsworth House Baiter 12]

I'm trying to find a source on this one, as it was a few years ago, but there was a young adult in the US who quite fits the ironic death.

 

He was very much anti-seatbelt, and wrote a rather long article for his local newspaper about how laws requiring the use of seatbelts in moving vehicles were an infringement of his rights.

 

He died in a car crash. There were several other people in the vehicle, all of whom walked away with only minor injuries. They were wearing seatbelts. He wasn't, because it was a violation of his rights.

 

He was flung from the vehicle and killed.

 

Oops?

 

Thanks Newfie, I like that a lot. To me, that's ironic, but be prepared to have your post thoroughly inspected by the 'Irony Police'.

 

I'm really glad I started this thread now, because not only has it received the wonderful post above, but it has also patently proved that nobody here is actually certain of the definition of irony. Not even the Death List's appointed expert, Alanis.

 

Everyone seems to be saying 'um, well, I don't think this is irony, but then I might be wrong...so what does everyone else think?' or 'here's an article about irony, but it's by Wikipedia so it might not be reliable, so oh my gosh, is that irony in itself?'

 

To me, the greatest irony is that people admitting to not being sure what irony is are posting to say what they do or do not think qualifies as such.

[in eternum+ 22]

D'ya reckon d'em blokes over at Cambridge got it right:

 

irony

noun

a situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different result:

The irony (of it) is that the new tax system will burden those it was intended to help.

 

Rumour has it they consulted with Alanis on this one.

[TLC 9]

D'ya reckon d'em blokes over at Cambridge got it right:

 

irony

noun

a situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different result:

The irony (of it) is that the new tax system will burden those it was intended to help.

 

Rumour has it they consulted with Alanis on this one.

So by that definition my favoured Football (Soccer) team plays ironically for the vast majority of the time.

 

It still doesn't excuse football commentators who mention ironic passes and other such nonsense though.

[Tempus Fugit 214]

At considerable risk from accusations of pedantry, I have compiled a cursory examination of irony/bad luck in the examples cited by Ms. Morissette, as follows...

It's like rain on your wedding day - Bad Luck

Now that would qualify as ironic if either bride or groom were meteorologists.

[Captain of Industry 2]

If there was a strike in a Birds Eye Peas factory and then the staff entered negotiations with the management, would it be called a processed peas peace process?

I say, how jolly! Somebody said Bird's Eye:

Bolldy oiks striking again? String 'em up with no supper, that'll show 'em!

 

I wouldn't call Bird's Eye peas processed though, all we did was freeze them a little. What you are thinking of is Batchelor's Mushy Peas. Infernally horrid things which even a good steak and kidney pie can't redeem. We had to let them go. It's Campbells Soups you want if that's your cup of tea.

 

Toodle pip then!

[Star Crossed 33]

At considerable risk from accusations of pedantry, I have compiled a cursory examination of irony/bad luck in the examples cited by Ms. Morissette, as follows...

It's like rain on your wedding day - Bad Luck

Now that would qualify as ironic if either bride or groom were meteorologists.

No it wouldn't. It would qualify as irony if they had chosen that particular day because it was the least likely to provide rain, but the mere fact that they were meteorologists would have no bearing on the irony of the situation, which is, as it stands, nil.

[Tempus Fugit 214]

At considerable risk from accusations of pedantry, I have compiled a cursory examination of irony/bad luck in the examples cited by Ms. Morissette, as follows...

It's like rain on your wedding day - Bad Luck

Now that would qualify as ironic if either bride or groom were meteorologists.

No it wouldn't. It would qualify as irony if they had chosen that particular day because it was the least likely to provide rain, but the mere fact that they were meteorologists would have no bearing on the irony of the situation, which is, as it stands, nil.

 

 

Why would a meteorologist choose to be wed on a rainy day?

 

No one would choose a rainy day for their wedding, common bloody sense.