Irony

The other day my husband and I were discussing the subtleties of irony, and while we were talking my husband’s gaze happened to fall on our dog, Susie. Immediately, just by being looked at, her ears perked up and her tail started thumping on the floor.

My husband smiled and said something like “You want a great example of irony? That picture with the dogs sitting around a table playing poker.”

Well, obviously dogs can’t play poker. For one thing, they can’t hold the cards.

But that wasn’t what he was talking about. I’d seen the analogy as clearly as he had. Even if dogs could play poker, there’s no way on earth any one of them could achieve — let alone maintain — a poker face. They’d either be wagging their tails, holding their ears back in submission, snarling, barking, doing the happy wiggle or a teeth-baring growl (depending on the hand they were dealt, of course). They just can’t hide their emotions.

Thus, the irony of the picture. Dogs, playing poker with poker faces…

So this is Monday. Sometime during this week, I’m going to try using irony in my work-in-progress as effectively as the artist of that painting did. I used to hate that painting by the way, even though I’m a dog lover. I thought it sort of a guy-thing to think it had any artistic value.

Maybe my opinion about that has changed… (But if you ever happen to stop by my house, don’t look for a print of it hanging on any of my walls.)