One of the most common (and confusing) phenomena in Bill's semantics is his principle of spontaneous irony (i.e. to say the opposite of what is literally meant, or some exaggerated or inverted permutation). This principle of irony can be observed in any part of speech that will affect the apparent meaning of the sentence. In case of a word-irony, special emphasis is often given to the word that has been changed. Bill's ironic discourse often occurs with reference to the semantic domain of time; it is often in the imperative or interrogative mood.
Examples
1) Verbal irony
Normally, verbal-irony occurs by preterization (i.e. changing the present tense of the verb to past tense).
B: "What time was it?" (What time is it?)
B: "May I borrow [your stick of gum]?" (May I have...?)
2) Nominal/pro-nominal irony
B: "Can you hold on just an hour?" (just a minute)
B: "Thank me." (Thank you.)
3) Prepositional irony
B: "That's what I'm trying to figure in." (figure out)
B: "When are we getting down?" (when are we getting up?)