I love real-world examples of irony. Yesterday, I noticed that, here in Mount Pleasant, the local CiCi’s Pizza Buffet is next door to the local WeightWatchers. There is one business in-between them, but anyone going into or out of either establishment is in clear view of those visiting the other. I wonder how many people have set off to go to one and wound up at the other?
I will leave it to my humble readers to guess which of the two I was patronizing.
I hate to be That Guy, but I believe I can top that. In my beloved’s hometown in southwestern Wyoming, standing right next door to each other on the main drag, are a pet-grooming salon and a taxidermist.
Because, no matter what, you want your pet to look good, right?
Actually, I have the coup de grâce. I was saving it for another post, but here it is: “Shipping Line Admits to Dumping Waste Oil.” No big deal, right? But the devil is in the details: the name of the shipping line is “Evergreen.” Charleston being a major port, Evergreen container ships and trucks hauling their distinctive green shipping containers–with their logo in big, block letters–are very common here.
Touché. I almost did a spit take when I read that, then I clicked through to the article, which contains the pièce de resistance:
“Even as the federal probe was underway, the Port of Los Angeles in September 2002 gave its first-ever Environmental Excellence Award to Evergreen, calling the company a leader in meeting environmental standards for clean air and water.”
Wow, just wow. You can’t make this stuff up. If you put it in a story, people would think it was too forced. I should do a lecture on irony for my English classes and use this as the prime example.