Are We Hardwired with a Sense of Irony?
Language has many layers of meaning. When and how do we grasp them?
“Well, that’s just great.” Quick, what does that sentence mean? Is the speaker acknowledging some good news, celebrating a joyful event that just took place? Do we take the statement at face value? Or could the person who said it mean something quite different, maybe even the opposite? Perhaps his pleasure is not genuine.
The fact is we do not know. The words are ambiguous. The comment could be kind and authentic: imagine his daughter has ...
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