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Ironic?

Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 4:01 pm
by English bro
I found this statement to be ironic because it describes the act of being sure it knowing that the person doesn't know anything. Would you agree? I think there is a term for this type of statement but I can't remember it.

"You feign expertise in things you know nothing about."


The certainty of the author means he is guilty of his own accusations.

What do you think?

Re: Ironic?

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:37 pm
by darcy
It is ironic if the speaker is also feigning expertise. In psychology, this is called projection. When a speaker accuses someone of something that the speaker also does, he/she may be projecting his/her own failing onto someone else. Maybe that's the word you were thinking of.

Re: Ironic?

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 1:58 pm
by English bro
Projecting is not what I was thinking of but it definitely seems possible here. What I was thinking of is when someone makes a statement/accusation and falls victim to their own accusation while making the statement.

You feign expertise in things you know nothing about.

If the accused actually isn't feigning expertise at all, rather having a normal conversation, then the speaker is guilty of feigning expertise in such topics and also projection.

Re: Ironic?

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 3:21 pm
by darcy
I can't think of another word for it, but there's an idiom that comes close: 'the pot calling the kettle black'. (i.e. the pot points out that the kettle is black and sooty from the fire, but the pot is equally sooty.)

Re: Ironic?

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 3:49 pm
by English bro
Right, I was thinking that, but the only difference here is that the kettle isn't even black since he wasn't even guilty in the first place of the accusation!

Ironic projecting, perhaps?