How much more elegant is it to slay your foe with the roses of irony than to massacre him with the axes of sarcasm or to belabour him with the bludgeon of invective.
It was initially met with jeers and snickering when first proposed in 2005, but Jones persevered to get funding, and was finally able to get it off the ground a year later.
Relieve a friend's anxiety, " he said, with no change of his voice and tone, in which indifference, and even irony, was perceptible through the veil of courtesy and sympathy."