Raillery
Raillery
can really be looked at as a 'quip' extended. I do believe that it is
more closely related to 'badinage', but most people just think of
'badinage' as a badly-wrapped wound, so we just will bypass
'badinage' altogether -- and it's a "B" word -- and move right on to 'raillery'. Besides, desperate times call for desperate measures, and right now, I feel as
if I haven't been to my maths class all year, and I have a Calculus
final tomorrow morning, and since 'badinage' doesn't begin with an
'r', which would make it 'radinage' meaning nothing, we will hope for
the best, regarding 'raillery' which has not one damned thing to do
with railroads, so the railroad people (this means YOU, Jeremy) can
move on to Runescape and yuck it up in Chat and make fun of me, for
once again writing a huge, run-on sentence and creating a huge
in-joke. But, I digress.
Raillery
noun \'rā-lǝ-rē\
:friendly
joking about or with somebody
Origin
if from the French raillerie, from Middle French, from railler
to mock
First
known use: 1653. It is related to quip, barb, sally, persiflage (a
marvelous word) banter, and repartee.
I
always enjoyed hearing about the Algonquin Round Table and the
conversations that took place there. It was the hangout of many
authors and clever wits; the likes of Alexander Woollcott, Dorothy
Parker, Robert Benchley, and Edna Ferber, although there were about
24 members.
Some
examples of their raillery:
- Robert Sherwood, reviewing cowboy hero Tom Mix, “They say he rides as if he's part of the horse, but they don't say which part.”
- Dorothy Parker: “That woman speaks eighteen languages and can't say 'no' in any of them.”
- George S. Kaufman: When once asked by a press agent, “How do I get my leading lady's name into your newspaper?” Kaufman replied, “Shoot her.”
courtesy: www.pbs.org
The Algonquin Round Table set taste and high-art, pre-depression America, at the Algonquin Hotel, circa 1925.
This
is similar to the 'found' quip or raillery we get here in America,
often after a local American NFL football team's dismal performance.
Once, years ago, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are often called
the Succaneers, lost once again, the coach was asked by the local
sports guy what he thought of the teams' execution. The coach said
tersely, “I'm all for it”. The Buccaneers are hardly better now.
Besides that, it's baseball season. At least the The Tampa Bay Rays
actually play baseball.
7 comments:
I did not even know what raillery was until I read this post, so I learned something new.
Mary,
Raillery is also a new word for me, though I do understand banter. Friendly joking around... We do a lot of that around here.
"I feel as if I haven't been to my maths class all year, and I have a Calculus final tomorrow morning." Oh I am feeling a bit that way myself. I am getting so far behind with everything online. I almost didn't have a post for the challenge yesterday. I just felt like slipping away quietly. But I'm still here! I hope you're coping too.
I wanted to say more about the kind comments you wrote some days ago. I really did appreciate you sharing your bi-polar experiences with me. I struggle sometimes to understand my daughter's condition. I guess it's one of those sufferings that can't be seen from the outside. You need to get inside someone's head in order to understand and that's not possible. My daughter and I swapped a lot of comments and shared stories, on one of my blogs some time ago, which really did help us. We were drifting apart, unable to say what was inside us. The whole situation was complicated by the fact Felicity entered a convent, with undiagnosed bi-polar. But that's another story!!
Anyway, I hope all is well with you, Mary!
Love it. I am going to use this word a lot in my drama group tomorrow..there will be lots of raw-le-ray :) Thanks for introducing me to this word :)
@Julia!
Thanks for stopping by! I wasn't entirely sure of the meaning of this word, as it is easily swapped with 'banter' although in the sense that I understand it, banter is polite and maybe a bit understated, while raillery, or raw-le-ray (from my new, wonderful friend Trish Nugent) seems to be a bit more overt, if not downright raucous, at times.
It might interest you to know also, that I got off on the 'banter' v. 'badinage' trail and then, after wandering hopelessly astray, closed the browser and started over with 'raillery'. Too much research and digging does not make for a better post; it often bores the hell out of your reader and tries what little patience they have left after looking at your eye-searing hand-made blog! I jest, but in a half-assed, half-serious way.
Thanks for stopping by, Julia! Mary xoxo
@Sue!
Bless you, my dear lady! I think sometimes, that desperate times call for desperate measures and resorting to the alphabet seemed my best bet, as my better half and I try to cope with his 'silent' heart attack, insurance companies, doctors who are unwilling or unavailable and the like.
I may have some inkling of you trying to keep up and cope, but whatever I've got, you've got magnified by at least the power of seven. Don't slip away; I had that thought as well, but it's not in you. I feel that keenly from your writing and your life and the care you put into everything. I'm coping, but part of it is just my own lack of discipline, which has me confused, because I am not normally like this. As this is being written on May 3, 2014, I feel better late than never.
I tried to save this and it was too long; I'm going to send you the rest in an email. Colour me embarrassed. Mary xoxo
@Trish!
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you make vids of your drama group because I want to hear you saying 'raw-le-rey' many many times! All the best! Mary xoxo
Mary,
I am getting so slow at replying to comments. I apologise! I've wanted to stop by for a few days now. Anyway, I'm sorry to hear you're having a difficult time and your better half isn't well. It sounds like you have lots to cope with.
Me? I appreciate your kind comment but I think getting overloaded is my own fault. I try to do too much. I have my kids and homeschooling but I want to blog too. And of course I have to have more than one blog! I am just not sensible sometimes. I was thinking this morning I need to concentrate on one thing at a time so at least I get one thing done properly. I just couldn't decide what that one thing should be! I like my unschooling blog because that's what I'm doing with my girls at the moment. But I also like my writing blog because that's more creative. Then I should finish all those books I have in draft form...
I guess you are glad the challenge is finished. I am too but I did enjoy it. It was great meeting you because of it. I haven't really anything of value to say today but just wanted to say hello and how lovely it was to continue our conversation in your inbox.
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