Definition:
An informal term for the inability to recognize, comprehend, and/or utilize irony. More broadly, a tendency to interpret figurative language in a literal way.
See also:
Examples and Observations:
- "Mobsters are reputedly huge fans of The Godfather. They don’t see it as a tale of individual moral corruption. They see it as a nostalgia trip to better days for the mob."
(Jonah Goldberg, "The Irony of Irony." National Review, April 28, 1999) - "Irony deficiency is directly proportional to the strength of the political commitment or religious fervor. True believers of all persuasions are irony deficient. . . .
"Brutal dictators are irony deficient--take Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jong-il, and Saddam Hussein, a world-class vulgarian whose art collection consisted of kitsch paintings displayed unironically."
(Jon Winokur, The Big Book of Irony. Macmillan, 2007) - "Here is something ironic: We live at a time when our diets are richer in irony than ever before in human history, yet millions of us suffer from that silent crippler, irony deficiency . . . not so much a deficiency in irony itself, but an inability to utilize the abundance of irony all around us."
(Swami Beyondananda, Duck Soup for the Soul. Hysteria, 1999) - "Will people who detect a lack of irony in other cultures never stop to consider that this may be a sign of their own irony deficiency? Maybe it's defensible when the apes detect a lack of irony in Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes, but not when, say, Brits detect it in, say, Americans as a race . . .. The point of irony, after all, is to say things behind people's backs to their faces. If you look around the poker table and can't tell who the pigeon is, it's you."
(Roy Blount, Jr., "How to Talk Southern." The New York Times, Nov. 21, 2004)
