8) Ironesty This one is my neologism, as far as I know, referring to the braiding together of earnestness and irony. It’s basically the same idea as Jesse Thorn’s New Sincerity, though not temporally bound. (“New Sincerity” implies that it comes at a certain point in history, and also that it’s a sort of a movement, which it is, in the literary world.) Ironesty is irony/sarcasm/sardonicness/snark employed in the service of making an earnest point, or expressing a heart-felt emotion. It’s kind of a way of saying “Hey I get that what I’m about to say is kind of corny, but…” and then truly caring about the thing that comes after the “but.” Or it’s a way of delivering a humorous, clever ironic message, but softening it with a “Don’t worry … we’re not too cool for you, we have sincere feelings just like you.”