"Irony"

What is postmodernism? Jackson Lears contemplates the
birth of irony in The New Republic.
Me, I've absorbed a sense of irony from the world around me.
Try defining irony. It's one of the more difficult words in the
English language to define without using the word itself.
The holidays used to cheer me up. Nowadays, they fire up
my sense of irony.
Pre-post-modern Christmas: Happy Holidays
Post-modern Christmas: "Happy Holidays" (pronounced out
loud as "quote, unquote, happy holidays."; now, for an aside
within a parenthetical--why do we say "quote, unquote" before
the phrase we are trying to put in quotes instead of saying
"quote" before the start of the quotation and "unquote" after
we've finished pronouncing the quotation? When did that whole
deal start? End of aside)
I had my first bout of holiday stress today. When I was a kid,
I had no idea what holiday stress was all about. Well, now
I know. Humbug.