Talk:ANTARES (telescope)
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An entry from ANTARES (telescope) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 11 June 2006. |
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[edit] ironic?
...that ANTARES, a neutrino telescope under construction in the Mediterranean Sea, will find neutrinos from outer space by ironically looking downward, into the Earth?
How is this ironic?
Telescopes typically look up. Seems ironic to me. And please consider signing your posts with ~~~~, thanks. ++Lar: t/c 04:04, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
- But this telescope was designed to look down. It's more counterintuitive than ironic. Now, if the telescope makes its biggest discovery from neutrinos coming down from the sky, rather than through the Earth, then that would be irony. See the usage note here. — BRIAN0918 • 2006-06-11 04:44
- For a better explanation: this case isn't irony, because all that is missing is a simple fact that the readers don't know (that neutrinos easily pass through the Earth); once that fact is known, the statement ceases to be interesting in the way it originally was, whereas truely ironic statements remain interesting, and suggest lessons. For example, if they went to all that trouble designing a telescope to point away from the sky, but their most important discovery was from a neutrino coming from the sky, it suggests some lesson about human folly. — BRIAN0918 • 2006-06-11 04:52
- Let me quote you from the DYK discussion page. "How about without 'ironically'? Anyone who knows anything about neutrinos knows they easily pass through the earth, so it won't be that big of a surprise, and you'll avoid the grammar nazis complaining about the proper usage of the word 'irony' — BRIAN0918 • 2006-06-10 19:30" My impression here is that you, Brian, are the grammar nazi. Well, that sure is ironic, isn't it? OK, it's also counterintuitive. Teply 05:06, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
- I think this usage of Ironic fits the second meaning ("incongruous") given in Irony#Usage_controversy and that is why, when I selected this article for DYK, I kept the word usage there.. I'm not sure why Brian chose to respond here in a way that reopens the question but I am not seeing it as a useful thing to have done. That said, Teply, please remain civil. Let's not call people grammar nazis, ok? ++Lar: t/c 05:16, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
- Questions are never closed on this encyclopedia, so please don't claim I am "reopening" anything. "Grammar nazi" is a very common phrase on Wikipedia and all over the internet. — BRIAN0918 • 2006-06-11 16:11
- Why not just use the word incongruously, if that's the word you're striving to imitate? — BRIAN0918 • 2006-06-11 16:23
- As for linking to Irony, I don't usually trust unsourced content on Wikipedia, unless it's in the Wikipedia: namespace. That is why I linked to a real dictionary. — BRIAN0918 • 2006-06-11 16:26
- Teply: I never said I wasn't a grammar nazi. I in fact am one, occasionally. My original post was meant to avoid us getting side-tracked into this discussion, and nothing more. So, no, no irony, no counterintuitiveness. This discussion is getting us nowhere, so I'm just going to leave myself out. Feel free to continue amongst yourself, though. — BRIAN0918 • 2006-06-11 16:21
- I think this usage of Ironic fits the second meaning ("incongruous") given in Irony#Usage_controversy and that is why, when I selected this article for DYK, I kept the word usage there.. I'm not sure why Brian chose to respond here in a way that reopens the question but I am not seeing it as a useful thing to have done. That said, Teply, please remain civil. Let's not call people grammar nazis, ok? ++Lar: t/c 05:16, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
- Let me quote you from the DYK discussion page. "How about without 'ironically'? Anyone who knows anything about neutrinos knows they easily pass through the earth, so it won't be that big of a surprise, and you'll avoid the grammar nazis complaining about the proper usage of the word 'irony' — BRIAN0918 • 2006-06-10 19:30" My impression here is that you, Brian, are the grammar nazi. Well, that sure is ironic, isn't it? OK, it's also counterintuitive. Teply 05:06, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
