tongue-in-cheek
{{short description|Idiom indicating humor or sarcasm}}
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Tongue-in-cheek is an idiom that describes a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner.
History
The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning.{{citation |title=Contrastive metaphor of Korean and English revealed in 'mouth' and 'tongue' expressions |first=H. | last=Chay}}{{cite journal |title=Use Your Body |first =I. G. |last= Zoltan |journal=Philologia |year=2006}} Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott in his 1828 The Fair Maid of Perth.
The physical act of putting one's tongue into one's cheek once signified contempt.{{citation |title=From the Horse's Mouth |first=John |last=Ayto |publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BC8_tRvBSvsC |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-954379-3}} For example, in Tobias Smollett's The Adventures of Roderick Random, which was published in 1748, the eponymous hero takes a coach to Bath and on the way apprehends a highwayman. This provokes an altercation with a less brave passenger:
{{quote|He looked back and pronounced with a faltering voice, 'O! 'tis very well—damn my blood! I shall find a time.' I signified my contempt of him by thrusting my tongue in my cheek, which humbled him so much, that he scarce swore another oath aloud during the whole journey.{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ld8kAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA200 |title=The adventures of Roderick Random | first=Tobias George |last=Smollett |year=1780}}}}
The phrase appears in 1828 in The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott:
{{quote|The fellow who gave this all-hail thrust his tongue in his cheek to some scapegraces like himself.}}
It is not clear how Scott intended readers to understand the phrase.{{cite news |last=Owens |first=Gene |date=4 December 2007 |title='Tongue in cheek' is cut-and-dried phrase |work=The Oklahoman |publisher=Phrases.org |url=http://newsok.com/article/3176644/1196722011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207043553/https://oklahoman.com/article/3176644/tongue-in-cheek-is-cut-and-dried-phrase |archive-date=2021-02-07 }} The more modern ironic sense appeared in a poem in The Ingoldsby Legends (1842) by the English clergyman Richard Barham, in which a Frenchman inspects a watch and cries:
{{quote| 'Superbe! Magnifique!' / (with his tongue in his cheek)}}
The ironic usage originates with the idea of suppressed mirth—biting one's tongue to prevent an outburst of laughter.{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AEL0XOWn0sEC&pg=PA37 |title=The body language phrasebook |first=Nick |last=Marshallsay |publisher= Collins & Brown |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-84340-304-3}}
See also
References
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External links
- {{Wiktionary-inline}}