Irony

Yesterday, Jay Fullmer, 38, became the first American to get to grips with the concept of irony.

"It was weird," Fullmer says. "I was in London and, like, talking to this guy and it was raining and he pulled a face and said "Great weather, eh?" and I thought "Wait a minute, no way is it great weather!"

Fullmer then realised that the other man's mistake was, in fact, deliberate. Fullmer, who is married with two children, aged eight and three, plans to use irony himself in the future.

"I'm using it all the time," he says. "Last weekend I was grilling steaks. I burned them to a crisp and said "Hey, great weather!"