Re: "Danny Boy" on Shamrock Day?

In article <fr8vta$ds9$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, tmcd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Tim
McDaniel) wrote:

> >>>> When I was in New Orleans around Labor Day 1988 (I'm told there
> >>>> was a con running there at the time, but I think it was just a
> >>>> rumor),
> 
> Come to look at it again, that can be interpreted as sarcasm,
sneering
> about the con.  I actually meant it to be only ironic, that New
> Orleans had enough of unusual interest that even a well-run con would
> have been somewhat in its shadow.

Chambers defines irony as "a linguistic device or form of humour that
takes its effect from stating or implying the opposite of what is the
case or what is intended, eg saying 'You've made a really good job of
that, haven't you', when someone has done something badly."  So saying
that there wasn't a con there when there was sounds like irony to me.

Of course, the British and US definitions of irony could be different,
which maybe where the trouble lies. :-)