The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner.
The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner.
The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. [1] [2] [3] Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott in his 1828 The Fair Maid of Perth .
The physical act of putting one's tongue into one's cheek once signified contempt. [4] For example, in Tobias Smollett's The Adventures of Roderick Random, which was published in 1748, the eponymous hero takes a coach to Bath and on the way apprehends a highwayman. This provokes an altercation with a less brave passenger:
He looked back and pronounced with a faltering voice, 'O! 'tis very well—damn my blood! I shall find a time.' I signified my contempt of him by thrusting my tongue in my cheek, which humbled him so much, that he scarce swore another oath aloud during the whole journey. [5]
The phrase appears in 1828 in The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott:
The fellow who gave this all-hail thrust his tongue in his cheek to some scapegraces like himself.
It is not clear how Scott intended readers to understand the phrase. [1] The more modern ironic sense appeared in the 1842 poem "The Ingoldsby Legends" by the English clergyman Richard Barham, in which a Frenchman inspects a watch and cries:
'Superbe! Magnifique!' / (with his tongue in his cheek) [1]
The ironic usage originates with the idea of suppressed mirth—biting one's tongue to prevent an outburst of laughter. [6]
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Waverley, Old Mortality, The Heart of Mid-Lothian and The Bride of Lammermoor, and the narrative poems The Lady of the Lake and Marmion. He had a major impact on European and American literature.
Tobias George Smollett was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for picaresque novels such as The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), which influenced later novelists, including Charles Dickens. His novels were liberally altered by contemporary printers; an authoritative edition of each was edited by Dr O. M. Brack Jr and others.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1760.
Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the River Fleet. The prison was built in 1197, was rebuilt several times, and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.
James Justinian Morier was a British diplomat and author noted for his novels about the Qajar dynasty in Iran, most famously for the Hajji Baba series. These were filmed in 1954.
The History and Adventures of an Atom is a novel by Tobias Smollett, first published in 1769. The novel satirises English politics during the Seven Years' War.
The Fair Maid of Perth is an 1828 novel by Sir Walter Scott, one of the Waverley novels. Inspired by the strange, but historically true, story of the Battle of the North Inch, it is set in Perth and other parts of Scotland around 1400.
La jolie fille de Perth is an opera in four acts by Georges Bizet (1838–1875), from a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jules Adenis, after the 1828 novel The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott. Many writers have reserved severe criticism for the librettists for their stock devices and improbable events, while praising Bizet's advance on his earlier operas in construction of set pieces and his striking melodic and instrumental ideas.
Roderick, Rodrick or Roderic is a Germanic name, recorded from the 8th century onward. Its Old High German forms are Hrodric, Chrodericus, Hroderich, Roderich, Ruodrich (etc.); in Gothic language Hrōþireiks; in Old English language it appears as Hrēðrīc or Hroðrīc, and in Old Norse as Hrǿríkʀ.
Fingask Castle is a country house in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is perched 200 feet (61 m) above Rait, three miles (5 km) north-east of Errol, in the Braes of the Carse, on the fringes of the Sidlaw Hills. Thus it overlooks both the Carse of Gowrie and the Firth of Tay and beyond into the Kingdom of Fife. The name derives from Gaelic fionn-gasg: a white or light-coloured appendage.
The Battle of the North Inch was a staged battle between the Clan Chattan and the "Clan Quhele" in September 1396. Thirty men were selected to represent each side in front of spectators, including King Robert III of Scotland and his court, on land that is now the North Inch park in Perth, Scotland.
The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom is a novel by Tobias Smollett first published in 1753. It was Smollett's third novel and met with less success than his two previous more picaresque tales. The central character is a villainous dandy who cheats, swindles and philanders his way across Europe and England with little concern for the law or the welfare of others. He is the son of an equally disreputable mother, and Smollett himself comments that "Fathom justifies the proverb, 'What's bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh". Sir Walter Scott commented that the novel paints a "complete picture of human depravity"
Andrew Macdonald (1757–1790), pen name Matthew Bramble, was a Scottish clergyman, poet and playwright.
"Shut up" is a direct command with a meaning very similar to "be quiet", but which is commonly perceived as a more forceful command to stop making noise or otherwise communicating, such as talking. The phrase is probably a shortened form of "shut up your mouth" or "shut your mouth up". Its use is generally considered rude and impolite, and may also be considered a form of profanity by some.
The Journal of Sir Walter Scott is a diary which the novelist and poet Walter Scott kept between 1825 and 1832. It records the financial disaster which overtook him at the beginning of 1826, and the efforts he made over the next seven years to pay off his debts by writing bestselling books. Since its first complete publication in 1890 it has attracted high praise, being considered by many critics one of the finest diaries in the language.
The Fair Maid of Perth is a 1923 British silent adventure film directed by Edwin Greenwood and starring Russell Thorndike, Sylvia Caine and Lionel d'Aragon. It was made at Beaconsfield Studios, and based on the 1828 novel The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott.
South Inch is a large public park in Perth, Scotland. About 31 hectares in size, it is one of two "Inches" in Perth, the other being the larger, 57-hectare North Inch, located half a mile across the city. The Inches were granted to the city, when it was a royal burgh, by King Robert II in 1374. Both Inches were once islands in the River Tay. The two Inches are connected by Tay Street.
Soup and Bouilli in England is a dish of boiled beef and root vegetables based on the traditional French dish pot-au-feu. The name comes from the general method in France of serving pot-au-feu as two courses - la soupe et le bouilli. In England as in France bouilli referred to the boiled meat.
The Statue of Sir Walter Scott is a Category C listed monument at the South Inch public park in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Standing where Marshall Place and King's Place merge, at King Street, it is dedicated to Sir Walter Scott, author of The Fair Maid of Perth in 1828. The statue is the work of John Cochrane and Brothers, and was completed in 1845 as one of their final works before leaving for Canada. It was accidentally acquired by the city magistrates at the sale of a local sculptor's stock. The statue originally stood at the eastern end of Perth's High Street, but was removed to its current location in 1877.
Fair Maid's House is an historic building in the centre of Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Located in North Port, it is a Category B listed building, partly dating from 1475 but mostly from 1629. It is two storeys, built of rubble, with a stair tower and slated roof. The building is most noted for providing part of the inspiration for Sir Walter Scott's novel The Fair Maid of Perth (1828).
... Novelist Sir Walter Scott used 'tongue in cheek' as early as 1828 in 'The Fair Maid of Perth,' but it isn't clear what he meant.
The dictionary definition of tongue-in-cheek at Wiktionary