Irony

In our present study, irony does not have its usual meaning as a kind of ridicule or mockery. It has the original Greek meaning of dissimulation of one’s good qualities; it means pretending, not in honesty and humility but dishonestly,that one is less or worse than one actually is. Thus understood,irony has the character of dissimulation and lying.

One lie may be worse than another either in the matter lied about or in the motive of the liar. Now, irony and boasting deal with the same matter, for both are a speaker’s words about himself. But the two things differ in motive. And the motive of boasting is usually viler than the motive of irony. The boaster wishes to glorify himself in the opinion of others; the ironical person rather wishes to avoid the offense of seeming prideful or snobbish. Yet sometimes irony is worse than boasting; it is so, for example, when it is used as a cunning means of deceiving persons with a view to subsequent cheating.