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Tongue-in-cheek is a term used to refer to humor in which a statement, or an entire fictional work, is not meant to be taken seriously, but its lack of seriousness is subtle. The origin of its usage comes from when Spanish minstrel
Minstrel

A minstrel was a Middle Ages European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories about distant places or about real or imaginary historical events....
s would perform for various dukes in the 18th century; these dukes would silently chastise the silliness of the minstrel's performances by placing their tongue firmly to the side of their cheek.






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Tongue-in-cheek is a term used to refer to humor in which a statement, or an entire fictional work, is not meant to be taken seriously, but its lack of seriousness is subtle. The origin of its usage comes from when Spanish minstrel
Minstrel

A minstrel was a Middle Ages European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories about distant places or about real or imaginary historical events....
s would perform for various dukes in the 18th century; these dukes would silently chastise the silliness of the minstrel's performances by placing their tongue firmly to the side of their cheek. The Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989; as of December 2008 the dictionary's current editors have completed a quarter of the third edition....
 defines it as "Ironic, slyly humorous; not meant to be taken seriously".

History


Tongue-in-cheek fiction seems to abide by the conventions of an established serious genre
Genre

A genre is a loose set of criteria for a category of composition; the term is often used to categorize literature and speech, but is also used for any other Art#Art forms or utterance....
, but gently pokes fun at some aspects of that genre, while still relying on its conventions. Examples of tongue-in-cheek films are A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is a 1982 in film film written and directed by Woody Allen.The plot is loosely based on Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night....
, Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 in film Cinema of the United Kingdom zombie comedy comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and written by Pegg and Wright....
, Demolition Man
Demolition Man (film)

Demolition Man is a 1993 in film Cinema of the United States dystopian action film directed by Marco Brambilla, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne and Denis Leary....
, True Lies
True Lies

True Lies is a 1994 in film Action film-comedy film. It was directed by James Cameron, and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold , Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, Charlton Heston, and Art Malik....
 or Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz is a British films of 2007 Cinema of the United Kingdom action film comedy film written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright and starring Pegg and Nick Frost....
. Note that these films are still faithful to their genre (musical, zombie, action, spy, and police-thriller respectively) and are much more subtle than out-and-out parodies such as Airplane!
Airplane!

Airplane! is a Cinema of the United States comedy film directed and written by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. It stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty and features Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves , Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lorna Patterson....
 or Scary Movie
Scary Movie

Scary Movie is a 2000 in film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, as part of Wayans Bros. Entertainment. It is an Cinema of the United States dark comedy which parodies the Horror film, slasher film, and Mystery film genres....
.

The Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989; as of December 2008 the dictionary's current editors have completed a quarter of the third edition....
s earliest recorded use of the term was in 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
Webster's Dictionary

Webster's Dictionary is the name given to a common type of English language dictionary in the United States. The name is derived from lexicographer Noah Webster and has become a genericized trademark for this type of dictionary....
' the following year.

One of the earliest records of the expression is in The Fair Maid of Perth, by Sir Walter Scott in 1828

"The fellow who gave this all-hail thrust his tongue in his cheek to some scapegraces like himself."


Its use was recorded again in 1845 by Richard Harris Barham
Richard Harris Barham

Richard Harris Barham , was an England novelist, humorous poet, and a College of Minor Canons#Cardinals in the Church of England. He was better known by his nom de plume of Thomas Ingoldsby....
, the English novelist and poet in The Ingoldsby Legends:
He fell to admiring his friend's English watch.
He examined the face,
And the back of the case,
And the young Lady's portrait there, done on enamel, he
Saw by the likeness was one of the family;
Cried 'Superbe! Magnifique! (With his tongue in his cheek)
Then he open'd the case, just to take a peep in it, and
Seized the occasion to pop back the minute hand.