What is verbal irony? - Christopher Warner

At face value, the lines between verbal irony, sarcasm, and compliments can be blurry. After all, the phrase 'That looks nice' could be all three depending on the circumstances. In the final of a three part series on irony, Christopher Warner gets into the irony you may use most often and most casually: verbal irony.

Lesson by Christopher Warner, animation by Ben Pearce.

[marcosbeni]

Wow! The example they gave of verbal irony without sarcasm was really good! :)

[ohmygawjam]

POV: You're in online school and your English teacher sent you the link to here.

[natansandle]

It really helps that you say not all verbal irony is sarcastic and proceed not to give any examples.

[ChilledfishStick]

The only thing I wanted out of this video was an example of verbal irony without the sarcasm.
And no, I'm not going to be sarcastic now.

[jack-xkci]

Who else came here from their English language arts teacher?

[jagirl]

my step dad uses sarcasm 24/7. if the world depended him being serious of one moment, we'd all be dead.

[randomleagueoflegendsthres]

When you had a bad day and someone asks, "How's your day been?" and you respond, "It's been good." That's verbal irony.

[prtr]

All the examples were verbal irony + sarcasm. So it looks like there is no way to use verbal irony without the mean sarcastic attitude. Well, that it because all the examples were aimed at bad circumstances. Someone sad something nice, but meant something not so nice. Lets turn that around.

Imagine a friend winning an Olympic gold medal and you turn to him and with a smile you say: "Nah, I've seen better." There you say a not so nice thing, but you mean the opposite. You mean something nice. No sarcasm there, verbal irony only.

[kutlesss]

They jumped around an example of verbal irony without sarcasm. Why leave the lesson incomplete?

[impossible]

At the end when it says "no verbal irony here" that's verbal irony.

[ececiel]

I love to use verbal irony and being sarcastic. Isn't it lovely?

[seanpeery]

"Break a leg"
There you go, one of the few examples of something that is easily defended as non-sarcastic verbal irony that is not simply lying.
You are saying the 'opposite' of what you intend (wishing someone good luck by telling them to undergo bad luck) and the intent is to be helpful, not mean.

[gynt]

my eng teacher gave us this video but all she did was teach me how to be meaner. thank u ted-ed for inspiring my bullying career <3

[ourclock]

100% clear and best video on verbal irony on youtube.

[AntimonyInSushi]

This is the most illuminating video I have ever come across which explained the definition so utterly perfectly. Thank you so much. You made my day. I love your video to death.

[BecozUreHot]

I think what we get from this is that good natured sarcasm is verbal irony. It would be nice if they gave an example of it.

[katherinec]

I feel like they're probably being a little harsh toward sarcasm. It's not always with an intent to mock. Sometimes to poke light-hearted fun at something, but mocking usually takes it a little further. If there is mockery involved, I'd be more likely to label it "bulllying" than "sarcasm."

[wyndie]

This video is SPOT ON and NEEDED TO BE MADE!  I hear "sarcasm" and what is supposed to be "verbal irony" used interchangeably so frequently; a discussion for this issue was OVERDUE.

[harveylopezt]

You don't know how thankful I feel; you're so creative saying kind words!

[LilOak]

the ted intro cartoon guy looks so depressed