Irony deals with opposites; it has nothing to do with coincidence. If two
baseball players from the same hometown, on different teams, receive
the same uniform number, it is not ironic. It is a coincidence. If Barry
Bonds attains lifetime statistics identical to his father's, it will not
be ironic. It will be a coincidence. Irony is "a state of affairs that is
the reverse of what was to be expected; a result opposite to and in
mockery of the appropriate result." For instance:
If a diabetic, on his way to buy insulin, is killed by a runaway truck,
he is the victim of an accident. If the truck was delivering sugar, he is
the victim of an oddly poetic coincidence. But if the truck was
delivering insulin, ah! Then he is the victim of an irony.
If a Kurd, after surviving a bloody battle with Saddam Hussein's army and
a long, difficult escape through the mountains, is crushed and killed by a
parachute drop of humanitarian aid, that, my friend, is irony writ large.
Darryl Stingley, the pro football player, was paralyzed after a brutal
hit by Jack Tatum. Now Darryl Stingley's son plays football, and if
the son should become paralyzed while playing, it will not be ironic. It
will be coincidental. If Darryl Stingley's son paralyzes someone else,
that will be closer to ironic. If he paralyzes Jack Tatum's son that will
be precisely ironic.
Best Answer
The word is self-refuting (or self-defeating).
In his Introduction to Logic, Harry Gensler defines a self-refuting statement as “[A] statement that makes negative claims so sweeping that it ends up denying itself.”
For instance, Truth does not exist (Is that a true statement?); Nothing is absolute (Is that absolutely true?); "I cannot speak a word of English”
There is a difference between self-contradiction and self-refutation.
Are you asleep? yes (self-refutation).
I am sleeping and not sleeping. (self contradiction)