halcyoncatastrophe

[halcyoncatastrophe]

New word: recursive irony

Irony, but uncomfortably self-referential. For example:

Three people are playing Scrabble- Anastasia, Bartholomew, and Cheyenne. At the start of the game, Anastasia suggests that everyone play quickly to reduce the amount of time between turns.

A little ways into the game, Anastasia thinks she sees an opportunity and spends several minutes deliberating over it. During this time, Bartholomew comments on how it's ironic she said to play quickly, but is now taking a long time to play.

Anastasia plays a decent word and Bartholomew begins his turn. He spends ten minutes trying to choose between the word QI for eleven points or the word QUIT on a double word score but opening up an opportunity for a triple. Finally, he plays QI.

Cheyenne begins their turn with a snarky comment on how Bartholomew looks quite the fool- having just reprimanded Anastasia on her long turn, but then taking so long to play an eleven-point word. They then take half an hour chasing an opportunity to play the word REVILED and the cycle of self-referential irony/stupidity is complete.