Incongruous, not ironic

In Tuesday's post I used the term "incongruity" to describe the situation wherein one who is not an athlete was judging those who were.

One might argue that the relationship there is more one of inappropriateness than incongruity, and that certainly would be a fair argument. I suspect that in common contemporary vernacular many may have used "irony" in those circumstances, indicating they perceived it as ironic for one who could not even come close to doing the something he's watching, who could not even in the most liberal use of the term be considered an avid fan of the something he was watching, to be drawing conclusions about the nuanced superiority of one spectacular performance over another spectacular performance.

Allow me to point out that I did not choose the term "irony." I did not mean to suggest I thought that scenario was held elements of sarcasm or was opposite of my meaning, nor that it was a scenario I had specifically sought to avoid and ended up in nonetheless.

I tend to be an "irony" traditionalist. But hey, that's just me.

"Incongruity," however, appears to be a word I'll jam in any old place when I'm trying to eschew (let's call it) non-traditional use of "irony," whether the one part of the situation at hand genuinely does not follow from the other or not. The only way "incongruity" will become as… loosely… applied as "irony" has come to be is if someone starts doing that.

If it catches on, allow history to show this was its point of origin.

(I'm getting older; I need to start a legacy of some kind.)

~

The real question: Was there any context where "irony" would be appropriate for that part above?


Discuss.