Irony

In our present study, irony does not have its usualmeaning as a kind of ridicule or mockery. It has the original Greekmeaning of dissimulation of one’s good qualities; it meanspretending, 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 thematter lied about or in the motive of the liar.Now, irony and boasting deal with the same matter, forboth are a speaker’s words about himself. But the two thingsdiffer in motive. And the motive of boasting is usually viler thanthe motive of irony. The boaster wishes to glorify himself in theopinion of others; the ironical person rather wishes to avoid theoffense of seeming prideful or snobbish. Yet sometimes irony isworse than boasting; it is so, for example, when it is used as acunning means of deceiving persons with a view to subsequentcheating.