Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Nothing ironic about saying exactly what you mean

Some people need things to matter.

Dear Hipster:

As you well know, people accuse hipsters of being terminally ironic. I watched the Onion video you referenced last week, and I felt like the idea of going to Applebee’s “ironically” wasn’t quite right. The Applebee’s commercial hipsters seemed like they were just being condescending and sarcastic when they put down things that aren’t cool enough for them. I got zero satisfaction from Googling the subject, as it’s too complicated, so please help explain, what is the difference between sarcasm and irony?

Sponsored
Sponsored

— Kimberly, Golden Hill

The snarky, sarcastic witticisms that pass the lips of jaded hipsters as they express their disapproval for all things uncool need not feature irony at all. There’s nothing ironic about saying exactly what you mean, and folks prickle at thinly-if-at-all veiled condescension for Michael Bay movies, mainstream music, fast food, and business-casual dress. Vitriol over hipster condescension forms the backbone of lambastings that paint the hipster as unable to take anything seriously; as constantly putting anything and -one down; as the solipsistic, self-proclaimed keeper of the cool.

Critics see us hipsters as having a crippling detachment from reality, as if the entire world were a joke and only the cool kids were in on it. If that were true, it would be a kind of dramatic irony, and a very hard one to accept at that, which is possibly at the root of popular resentment over the matter. People need things to matter, to be important, and questioning that which is conventionally important is one of hipsters’ greatest gifts to humanity.

Still, many misuse irony when they speak of hipsters and how they seem to approach the world thinking, Wouldn’t it be funny if…

Wouldn’t it be funny if I wore this T-shirt with a wolf on it?

Wouldn’t it be funny if we did “Regulators” at karaoke?

Even, like the Onion video, wouldn’t it be funny to eat at Applebee’s?

“Oooh, those ironic hipsters, being ironic!” seethe the haters. But, that’s not really irony. Irony is a complicated situational, dramatic, and verbal construction whereby the intent of speech or action runs counter to the literal meaning, or where expectations are the opposite of results.

Tell me, what about a 26-year-old in an “ironic” Rainbow Brite shirt is anything other than exactly as it seems? It looks like a grown-up in a kid’s clothes, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Just plain hipster and proud of it!

Irony need not be funny. Imagine if, in the world of Rainbow Brite (let’s just run with it), the happy little critters from Rainbow Land were actually members of an invading alien race who had imprisoned the original denizens in underground forced labor camps. Murky Dismal, the only hope for the original inhabitants, fought a constant battle to liberate his people from the wicked machinations of Rainbow Brite and Starlite the Tyrant Horse….

How’s that for a little irony right in the childhood?

Of course, irony and sarcasm cross paths every now and again. Ask a hipster how he feels about the most recent sports bar to open in North Park, and he might say, “More drunken bros fighting and spitting up Bud Lite on our formerly artisanal streetcorners! Just what we need!” There’s something of irony in there, as the literal meaning of the words is exactly the opposite of the intended meaning. It may be a base form of irony, but it sure gets the point across.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

A poem for March by Joseph O’Brien

“March’s Lovely Asymptotes”
Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate

Dear Hipster:

As you well know, people accuse hipsters of being terminally ironic. I watched the Onion video you referenced last week, and I felt like the idea of going to Applebee’s “ironically” wasn’t quite right. The Applebee’s commercial hipsters seemed like they were just being condescending and sarcastic when they put down things that aren’t cool enough for them. I got zero satisfaction from Googling the subject, as it’s too complicated, so please help explain, what is the difference between sarcasm and irony?

Sponsored
Sponsored

— Kimberly, Golden Hill

The snarky, sarcastic witticisms that pass the lips of jaded hipsters as they express their disapproval for all things uncool need not feature irony at all. There’s nothing ironic about saying exactly what you mean, and folks prickle at thinly-if-at-all veiled condescension for Michael Bay movies, mainstream music, fast food, and business-casual dress. Vitriol over hipster condescension forms the backbone of lambastings that paint the hipster as unable to take anything seriously; as constantly putting anything and -one down; as the solipsistic, self-proclaimed keeper of the cool.

Critics see us hipsters as having a crippling detachment from reality, as if the entire world were a joke and only the cool kids were in on it. If that were true, it would be a kind of dramatic irony, and a very hard one to accept at that, which is possibly at the root of popular resentment over the matter. People need things to matter, to be important, and questioning that which is conventionally important is one of hipsters’ greatest gifts to humanity.

Still, many misuse irony when they speak of hipsters and how they seem to approach the world thinking, Wouldn’t it be funny if…

Wouldn’t it be funny if I wore this T-shirt with a wolf on it?

Wouldn’t it be funny if we did “Regulators” at karaoke?

Even, like the Onion video, wouldn’t it be funny to eat at Applebee’s?

“Oooh, those ironic hipsters, being ironic!” seethe the haters. But, that’s not really irony. Irony is a complicated situational, dramatic, and verbal construction whereby the intent of speech or action runs counter to the literal meaning, or where expectations are the opposite of results.

Tell me, what about a 26-year-old in an “ironic” Rainbow Brite shirt is anything other than exactly as it seems? It looks like a grown-up in a kid’s clothes, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Just plain hipster and proud of it!

Irony need not be funny. Imagine if, in the world of Rainbow Brite (let’s just run with it), the happy little critters from Rainbow Land were actually members of an invading alien race who had imprisoned the original denizens in underground forced labor camps. Murky Dismal, the only hope for the original inhabitants, fought a constant battle to liberate his people from the wicked machinations of Rainbow Brite and Starlite the Tyrant Horse….

How’s that for a little irony right in the childhood?

Of course, irony and sarcasm cross paths every now and again. Ask a hipster how he feels about the most recent sports bar to open in North Park, and he might say, “More drunken bros fighting and spitting up Bud Lite on our formerly artisanal streetcorners! Just what we need!” There’s something of irony in there, as the literal meaning of the words is exactly the opposite of the intended meaning. It may be a base form of irony, but it sure gets the point across.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Will L.A. Times crowd out San Diego U-T at Riverside printing plant?

Will Toni Atkins stand back from anti-SDG&E initiative?
Next Article

Tiny Home Central isn’t solving the San Diego housing crisis

But it does hope to help fill in the gaps
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.