Irony is the new word of the year

University - 21 December 2021

Irony is the Word of the Year 2022!

"Freedom begins with irony" wrote Victor Hugo.

Perhaps this is precisely why the word "Irony" has been chosen by the IULM community as Word of the Year 2022. Because after two years of pandemic - which unfortunately does not seem to be abating - we all have a deep hunger for freedom. Freedom to travel, to be together, to visit places and people, to live our social animal life.

If it is true that COVID-19 has cornered us, it is also true that in this dramatic situation we have also (re)discovered something very important: laughter makes our lives and our imprisonment lighter. We need only think of the memes that invaded the web and social networks during the first months of the epidemic, portraying the mockery of fear and which, once shared, helped us to manage the crisis with irony and creativity.

And so, with a 27.2% share, students, teachers and the entire IULM community have decided that Irony will be the word at the centre of events, initiatives and exhibitions that will animate our Campus during the year that is about to begin. There will be no lack of ideas and inspirations, because philosophy, literature, cinema and art are full of irony: the irreverent irony of the Dadaist ready-made, the unexpected and provocative irony of Magritte, the sarcasm and mockery of Woody Allen's cinema, the existentialist irony of Kierkegaard, the cosmic irony of Calvino. As was the case with the words Money, Boundary and Waiting, this year the University is once again asking students and professors to take part in the creation of projects and ideas centred around the word Irony, declined in its multiple dimensions. Moreover, with the beginning of the new year, IULM will start a project that intends to involve IULM students of all degree courses in a concrete and engaging way around the word of the year... stay tuned!

Students and teachers can apply by sending their proposals to the following email: [email protected]

Poll results:



  • Irony: 27.2%
  • Unknown: 26.8%
  • Enigma: 19.4%
  • Doubt: 12.4%
  • Secret: 9.5%
  • Suspicion: 4.7%