Everything about Tongue-in-cheek totally explained
Tongue-in-cheek is a term used to refer to humour in which a statement, or an entire fictional work, isn't meant to be taken seriously, but its lack of seriousness is subtle. The
Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "Ironic, slyly humorous; not meant to be taken seriously".
Tongue-in-cheek fiction seems to abide by the conventions of an established serious
genre, but gently pokes fun at some aspects of that genre, while still relying on its conventions. Examples of tongue-in-cheek films are
Scream,
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy,
Shaun of the Dead,
Demolition Man,
True Lies, or
Hot Fuzz. Note that these films are still faithful to their genre (slasher, musical, zombie, action, spy, and police-thriller respectively) and are not out-and-out parodies such as
Airplane! or
Scary Movie.
The
OED's earliest recorded use of the term was in a 1933 when a
Times Literary Supplement review described
Shooting the Bull as "a tongue-in-the-cheek march through newspaperdom". It appeared in
Webster's Dictionary the following year.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Tongue-in-cheek'.
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