But in these self-conscious, irony-drenched times, it may be inevitable that some speakers will attempt to avoid the clichés of the form, instead taking a less sentimental approach to the commencement speech.
The historical irony here is that during the late-Soviet decades, marriage was a common way to avoid the tight constraints on freedom of travel.
The main inventor, John Kestner, said he's working on bringing its retail price down to $60, to "avoid obvious irony".
People reading a message are not always able to "hear" tonal subtleties, so it is best to avoid sarcasm, irony and satire in workplace e-mail messages.
The fountain strikes him as strange, even aggressive or grotesque, and he tries to avoid engaging with the irony of a "formula for happiness".
The rejection of J Street flies in the face of what all nonprofits stand for, but it is also hard to avoid pointing to the irony and hypocrisy of major Jewish organizations rejecting discussion and debate within their own ranks after the long history of discrimination against Jews and their views.
But it's hard to avoid such delicious irony when writing on the subject of how Republicans have been hoist on yet another one of their own petards.
Their musical survey of the Rooney-Garland partnership, which plays Wednesdays through Saturdays through April 8, is an immersion in nostalgia tinged with just enough irony to avoid becoming cloying.
One of the great ironies of today's Cairo is that the best way to avoid political violence is to go to the ashwa'iyet — the slums.
(Sisario) JUNIOR SENIOR (Monday) This Danish duo's "Move Your Feet" was the hipster hit of 2003, a winking electro-pop take on Jackson 5-era bubblegum that was catchy and joyous enough to avoid being swallowed up by its own irony.
