Back in the day, England had a rash of pickpocketers, so decided to make pickpocketing a hanging offense. Hangings were all the rage, so lots of people showed up to watch all these pickpocketers get hanged. And, of course, where there were throngs of people, more pickpockets showed up. They had to abandon the hanging plan to cut down on the number of pockets picked.

/Would've worked better if they just went with lethal injection in a dark, empty room with no spectators.

The Irony Police approve.

Not ironic.

Would be ironic only if lamented in a non-ironic song about irony.

cue about one hundred stupid reasons why some people won't think this is ironic.

It was a plant. They hired someone to steal his wallet.

let the irony war commense. FIGHT!

In the name of irony peace, I humbly offer a new tag for use with Fark. We can achieve irony peace in our time, but it will only come through cooperation and understanding.

Both ironic and unfortunate.... I think this one passes muster.

Unavailable for comment.

SpookyFiles
"It was a plant. They hired someone to steal his wallet."

who would "they" be?
some pickpocket guild?

They = Cops. What better way to promote the need for their program then have them hire someone to steal the police cheif's wallet.

...and look totally incompetent?

Premptive strike:

For all the Irony Police out there, please feel free to refer to the following:

This is NOT irony for the following reasons:

1. It's not irony when someone gets pick pocketed. People get pickpocked all the time. That's like saying it's ironic when a doctor gets sick. This is just coinidence.

2. It's not irony because I KNEW that was going to happen. Anytime I know when something is going to happen it isn't ironic. This is just reality.

3. It's not ironic because it was a campaign against pickpocketing. That means that he was a particular target for it to happen and therefore this is targeted crime, not irony.

4. It's not irony because I use my "Super strict Irony Definition from (quote source)". Since there is only one use of irony and since the English Language is NOT evolving to encompass wider definitions of the word, this IS NOT IRONY.

Please choose from the above for your complaints. It will simplify our ability to ignore you.

pick pocket trifecta in play?

ds394:

You have no way to know that he was targeted for pickpocketing. Something tells me there aren't too many people with the ability to steal a cop's wallet from his jacket, yet dumb enough to steal a cop's wallet from his jacket.

brklynmark:

If that's why you think this isn't irony, then you can go with:

1: It's not irony when someone gets pick pocketed. People get pickpocked all the time. That's like saying it's ironic when a doctor gets sick. This is just coinidence.

Shadow Blasko :

Looks like you're choosing number 1, also. #1's got the early lead!

Man, that's kinda like ra-a-a-a-in on your wedding day...


/let's get this party started, yall

ds394
I'll take a mix of 1 and 3.

There's no irony because pickpocketing is a recognized problem, hence the proposed anti-pickpocket campaign. If they had just hung a "Mission Accomplished" banner to end the anti-pickpocket campaign, then you would have irony.

This story SUCCEEDS in earning the Githerax irony seal-of-approval.

Not Ironic. It is actually the opposite of irony: that the chief's wallet was booted reinforces the need for the campaign.

Irony would be: Police chief's wallet falls out of pocket and into river as he chases suspected pickpocket.

What this story really needs is a guy getting killed by his own car while attempting to kill his girlfriend.

No it would be ironic if the police chief were caught pickpocketing someone else after announcing the anti-pickpocketing campaign.

Because it is an outcome that is both unexpected and also in mockery of the original expectation.

Just like it isn't ironic what a firetruck catches fire...it is ironic if a firetruck sets a house on fire.

H31N0US goes for Choice #3!

And let's see... Play along everyone...

H31NOUS's example:
"Police chief's wallet falls out of pocket and into river as he chases suspected pickpocket."

isn't ironic for the following reasons:

1. It's not irony when your wallet falls out of your pocket when you're chasing someone. Chasing someone is inherently likely to cause your wallet to fall out.

2. It's not irony when you lose your wallet chasing a pickpocket. Clearly they have a lot of problems with pickpockets, so this would just be coincidence.

3. It's not irony because I use my "Super strict Irony Definition from (quote source)". Since there is only one use of irony and since the English Language is NOT evolving to encompass wider definitions of the word, this IS NOT IRONY.

RembrandtQEinstein's example is correct. It would truly be ironic if the chief anti-pickpocketer was catched pickpocketing someone. No, it would be ironic and hypocritical.

Seriously people... do any of the irony police accept that there are MULTIPLE definitions of irony???

Seriously people... do any of the irony police accept that there are MULTIPLE definitions of irony???

Of course there are multiple definitions of irony. This story doesn't fit any. The only irony here is the use of the "ironic" tag.

eKonk - Of course there are multiple definitions of irony. This story doesn't fit any. The only irony here is the use of the "ironic" tag.

I respectfully disagree, i think the use of the ironic tag in this case was an expected outcome of submitting the article.

eKonk: Of course there are multiple definitions of irony. This story doesn't fit any. The only irony here is the use of the "ironic" tag.

Q. F. T.