It's a truism that British comedy is more complex, surreal and experimental than its slick American cousin, so a UK comedy audience keeps having to gauge the precise level of irony and political correctness.
The stylebook's entry states: irony, in precise usage, is a restrained form of sarcasm in which the intent of a phrase differs from its literal meaning, often for rhetorical effect (His brilliant plan nearly bankrupted the company).
As the stylebook notes: irony, in precise usage, is a restrained form of sarcasm in which the intent of a phrase differs from its literal meaning, often for rhetorical effect (His brilliant plan nearly bankrupted the company).
He writes with a precise lyricism - licked lightly with irony - of the zigzag grooving of the radial ply tyre, and of the evolution of the "clothoid curve" (the graceful cornering arc, with slowly increasing curvature, that requires motorists to concentrate as they turn).
Mr Chesterton's drawings are capital, and indicate a precise appreciation of his friend's ironies.
WHAAAAAAAT?! A lot of people toss the word "irony" around without really knowing its precise definition.
The irony of genomics is that the more precise the science, the smaller the potential market may be.
In fact, the irony of drones being such an effective and precise killing tool is that their use could theoretically continue forever.
It was all about keeping everybody on their toes.' The irony is that, when the switch isn't flicked, he's thoroughly low-key: precise and thoughtful, perhaps even a little detached, hardly the life and soul.
The irony, of course, is that the more data we mine, and the closer we come to determining a precise calculus of sharing, the less likely it will be for what we know to remain true.
