`and` and `or` are actually control flow modifiers in ruby, not synonyms for `&&` and `||` (http://devblog.avdi.org/2010/08/02/using-and-and-or-in-ruby/). I bet you ment to write `if irc_connection.email && irc.connection.password`.

`and` and `or` are indeed a bit confusing and that's why [Github's style guide](https://github.com/styleguide/ruby) forbids using them.