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Tongue-in-cheek 戏谑
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People who say something with "tongue-in-cheek" are not serious, although they may seem so. They are just joking, like the man who winks one eye as a sign that what he is saying is all in fun.
"Tongue-in-cheek" humour is a special kind. It is a gentle, playful kind of humour, not as biting as satire. A man can say many things with "tongue-in-cheek" without offending others. People don't believe he means what he says. If they did he might find himself in trouble.
Politicians, lawyers, judges and officials of all kinds might have risen up in violent anger against the cowboy humourist Will Rogers if they had thought he was serious. For example, when he said with a twinkle in his eye:
"I don't think you can make a lawyer honest by an act of the legislature. His lack of conscience is what makes him a lawyer."
American "tongue-in-cheek" humourists through the years made fun of everything around them that was phony (1) and dishonest. Their humours escaped the anger of those who may feel the sting.
Abraham Lincoln was highly skillful in the use of "tongue-in-cheek" humour. For a long time, job seekers almost drove him out of his mind. And when he came down with that terrible disease, smallpox (2), he said: "Tell all job hunters to come in, I've got something for all of them."
Notes: 1. (adj.) 虚假的 2. (n.) 天花
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