A Banquet of Irony

For a long time, I thought that irony was the enemy of spirituality. But now I have found it to be part of the human condition. Case in point:
However much I have been trying to clarify (foremost to myself, then to my students) the principles of communication, I have been realising how crucial it is that one not put too much stock (ha!) into what people say.
As with every art or science, the structures of the discipline exist most clearly in theory. But in practice/application...
Let us examine the kinds of "statements" that people make (statements being something that I used to consider a "final product"). People make statements in the good faith that what they have said will lead them to further clarification; in the lost state of mind where the statement is but a passing observation, but not what they believe; as a means of free therapy; (similarly) as a vent of current frustration; as a mistaken artifact left by the wayside to confound the listener, like the "clues" in a Christie crime novel...
I often say what I don't mean. Not because I want to, but because I am not always fully aware (of so many things).
So, despite the just deserts that is Logos, in the process we may sometimes end up having to eat our words, first.
And if the root of irony is in "affected ignorance" of the Socratic type, perhaps it is a case in point of communication: the wrong statement exists to serve the chef that is ready for the high stakes challenge (reference to Top Chef).