Critical Concepts Verbal Irony Verbal irony is a figure of speech. In sarcasm, the two stand in opposition. Example: Mother comes into the TV room and discovers her 11-year-old watching South Park instead of doing his homework, as he was set to a dozen minutes ago. The term comes directly into English from the Greek sarkasmos, which in turn derives from the ugly verb sarkazsein, "to tear the flesh" (used of dogs). Example: "My, you've certainly made a mess of things!" In overstatement, the meaning that ordinarily attaches to what is said is an exaggeration of what the speaker uses it to mean. Example: Someone tells us of an occasion on which he told an off-color joke about a grandmother and then realized to his surprise that his own grandmother, a prim and proper lady, happened to be standing right behind him. Well, if he literally died, we should be pretty spooked, because we're face to face with a corpse! Examples: "The speaker was somewhat hyperbolic in his praise of the deceased."
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