A qualitative study was carried out to survey attitudes towards and feelings associated with verbal irony among gelotophobes and nongelotophobes (gelotophobia denoting the fear of being laughed at). Sixty-one people (13 gelotophobes) were surveyed using an open-ended online questionnaire. An inductive, manifest content analysis was carried out. The analysis distinguished that non-gelotophobes treat verbal irony as a skillful way of drawing attention to absurdity. Irony was also often seen as a personal quality rather than a linguistic form. Concerns with recognizing irony appeared very rarely. In contrast, the gelotophobes’ responses displayed a more negative and one-sided attitude towards irony, describing it mostly as a way to put down and insult. These findings, though obtained in a general exploration, present a perspective complementary to that seen in linguistic and psycholinguistic literature as they draw attention to matters of personal experience of irony use. Additionally, the study’s methodological limitations and further directions for research are discussed.