Here's one or two cents on everything that was brought up but not addressed in this message thread:

1. The correct spelling is "Alanis Morissette". At least, I think so. I searched for '"ironic" AND "song"' on Yahoo, and in the first two relevant websites I could find it was spelled that way (but one of those websites was in a language I didn't recognize).

2. I don't see how the thing about the movie "American Pie" and Weird Al's song coming out at the same time could be considered ironic. Coincidental is more like it. However, it's ironic if you say it is. See point 4.

3. I agree with Famous in that the fact that the above point was hardly addressed in this thread is indeed ironic.

4. Also in reference to point 2, I don't really think it's possible to define the word "ironic" anymore. It's the English Teacher's catchall word for confusing students. You know: "So-and-so makes fantastic use of irony in this piece of literature when he refers to the image of the bathroom..." Mmmph!

4¼. Then again, maybe it's a good thing. After all, if a teacher assigns an essay on a passage or piece of literature that a student doesn't get/doesn't want to read, the student can simply write, "So-and-so makes fantastic use of irony in this passage when he refers to the image of the [insert any proper noun in the passage]...". A paper incorporating any such sentence almost always gets at least a B.

4½. The previous sentence was not irony. It was cynicism.

5. It's not just the *American* public that has lost the meaning of irony. Look at me! I'm Canadian... (Well, that makes me North American, I suppose, but I doubt the average European or Asian is any better off.)

[Space "hate to leave a question unanswered" Bar]