raillery
noun

- joking or laughing at someone or something in a friendly way

- good-natured ridicule

- a kind of joking or gentle teasing

Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Vocabulary Com

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WORD ORIGIN

"Raillery" (meaning good-natured teasing or mockery) comes from the French word railler meaning "to tease or joke," which appeared in the mid-16th century. The French word likely comes from Late Latin radiculare, a variant of "ridiculare" meaning "to ridicule." The word has the same ultimate root as "ridicule," tracing back to the Latin ridere meaning "to laugh." It entered English in the early 17th century.

In English, raillery specifically developed to mean playful mockery or good-humoured teasing, rather than cruel or harsh ridicule. It often implies wit and cleverness in the teasing, with no intent to seriously wound.

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HOW FUNNY IS THAT?
Test your affinity to English wordplay.

Compare your rating of each these English one-liners with that of a friend:

1 = not at all funny,  2 = vaguely funny,  3 = quite funny,  4 = very funny,  5 = hilarious

1.   I’m friends with 25 letters of the alphabet. I don't know Y.   1   2   3   4   5

2.  A cheese factory exploded in France. Da brie was everywhere.   1   2   3   4   5

3.  A single comma can make a profound difference to a sentence: “Let's eat, Grandma!” and “Let's eat Grandma!”   1   2   3   4   5

4.  A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Why the long face?”   1   2   3   4   5

5.  I saw a movie about beavers. It was the best dam film I've ever seen.   1   2   3   4   5

6.  Why do cows have hooves instead of feet? Because they lactose.   1   2   3   4   5

7.  I told my wife she should embrace her mistakes. She gave me a hug.   1   2   3   4   5

8.  Did you hear the rumour about butter? Well, I'm not going to spread it.    1   2   3   4   5

9.  I'm on a whisky diet. I've lost three days already.   1   2   3   4   5

10.  Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine!    1   2   3   4   5

SOURCE: "LAUGH LINES — Hilarious Quips Quotes, & One-Liners" — by: Helga Smith & Paul Smith

LAUGH LINES is available as a FREE download to OWAD readers.

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SYNONYMS

backchat, badinage, banter, barbs, chaff, chaffing, clowning, derision, digs, drollery, flippancy, foolery, fooling, fun, fun-poking, gentle mockery, gibes, gibing, good-humoured teasing, high spirits, horseplay, irony, japing, jesting, jests, jibing, jocularity, joshing, kidding (around), lampoonery, leg-pulling, levity, light mockery, light-hearted teasing, merriment, mockery, needling, parody, persiflage, play, playful banter (mocking), pleasantry, ragging, RAILLERY, razzing, repartee, ribbing, ridicule (in jest), roasting, satire, scoffing, scorn, skirmish of wit, sneering, sparring, sportive mockery, taunting in fun, teasing, tomfoolery, waggery, wit, witty repartee, wordplay

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“Which of the ten RAILLERY examples in today’s OWAD did you find the most amusing?”

DOWNLOAD the English humour book “LAUGH LINES" free-of charge from HERE.

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P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D

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