Situational irony: The opposite of what you think - Christopher Warner

情境式諷刺：與你預期的相反

Translator: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

譯者: Yana Chang 審譯者: Regina Chu

Picture this:

想像一下：

your friend and you are watching a sitcom

你和朋友正在看一齣情境喜劇

and a sassy sidekick walks into a room,

一位時髦帥氣的配角走了進來

carrying a four-tiered wedding cake.

手捧著一個四層的婚禮蛋糕

He trips,

falls,

他滑了一跤

跌倒了

and face-plants into the cake.

還一頭栽進蛋糕裡

Your friend doubles over with laughter and says,

你的朋友笑彎了腰說道：

"It's so ridiculous! So ironic!"

這實在太可笑了！多諷刺啊！

Well, quick, what do you do?

好了，這時候你會做什麼呢？

Do you laugh along with the laugh track

你會就這樣忽略這個嚴重對「諷刺」的誤解

and let this grievous misinterpretation of irony go?

然後跟著你的朋友大笑嗎？

Or, do you throw caution to the wind

還是，你會先把禮數放一邊

and explain the true meaning of irony?

然後好好解說「諷刺」真正的含義呢？

If you're me, you choose the latter.

如果你是我，你就會選擇後者

Unfortunately, irony has been completely misunderstood.

很不幸的，「諷刺」一直被完全誤解了

We tend to throw out that term

我們往往把它用在任何

whenever we see something funny or coincidental.

我們認為好笑或是湊巧的情況

And while many examples of true irony can be funny,

雖然很多諷刺的例子是好笑的

that is not the driving factor of being ironic.

但這並非取決諷刺的關鍵

A situation is only ironic if what happens

唯有在發生的事和預料的完全相反的情況

is the exact opposite of what was expected.

才叫 「諷刺」

If you expect A, but get B,

如果你預期的是Ａ卻得到Ｂ

then you have irony.

那就是 「諷刺」了

Let's take the slap-stick cake situation as an example.

再回頭看看剛剛的蛋糕例子吧

When someone walks in precariously balancing something

當有個人搖搖晃晃的扛著一個

that shouldn't be carried alone,

他不該獨自拿的東西

trips, falls, and makes a mess,

滑了一跤，跌得一踏糊塗

it is funny, but it's not ironic.

這好笑但不諷刺

In fact, you probably expect someone

事實上，你大概預料得到

who is single-handedly carrying a huge cake to trip.

一個單手拿著一個大蛋糕的人跌倒

When he does, reality aligns with expectations,

當他真的跌倒了，預料和現實相符

and so that is not irony.

所以這不是 「諷刺」

But what if the sassy sidekick walked in wearing a gold medal

但要是這個人走進來的時候

that he'd won at the cake walking event

戴著他在1996年亞特蘭大奧運

at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996?

扛蛋糕比賽贏的金牌呢？

What if that sidekick was a professional cake carrier?

又或者他是一位專業的蛋糕送貨員呢？

Then, maybe there would have been a reasonable expectation

如果這樣，我們就會合理的預期

that he would have been more skilled

當他扛著一個嚇死人的大蛋糕時

when carrying a ridiculously large cake.

會更加游刃有餘

Then, when that reasonable expectation was not met by the tripping sidekick,

那麼，當這個預期沒有成真的時候

irony would have been exemplified.

「諷刺」就出現了

Another example.

再舉一個例子

A senior citizen texting and blogging.

一位長輩傳簡訊又寫部落格

The common and reasonable expectation

一般我們會預期比較

of more mature men and women

ㄜ....「成熟」的人們

is that they don't like or know technology,

不喜歡或不了解科技

that they have a hard time turning on a computer,

他們會有開電腦的困難

or that they have the old brick cell phones from the 1980s.

或是還在用80年代的黑金剛

One should not expect them to be connected,

而不應該會預期他們是 Ｅ化 ，

high-tech,

高科技的

or savvy enough to text

或是厲害到能傳簡訊

or to be blogging,

寫部落格

which must seem like some sort of newfangled thing

因為這些玩意對他們來說一定會太新奇

that "back in my day," they never had.

也不會出現在他們的「想當年...」

So when Granny pulls out her smart phone

因此，當老奶奶拿出智慧型手機

to post pictures of her dentures

發佈她的假牙

or her grandkids,

或是孫子的照片時

irony ensues.

「諷刺」就出現了

Reasonable expectations of the situation are not met.

合理的期待和當下情況不符

That is irony.

這就是 「諷刺」

So while the cake dropper might not be ironic,

因此，雖然那個搞砸蛋糕的人不諷刺

there are all kinds of situations in life that are.

生活中還是有各式各樣的諷刺情況

Go out, and find those true examples of irony.

起身去發現這些真正諷刺的實例吧