banter

banter vb Banter, chaff, kid, rag, rib, josh, jolly are comparable when denoting to make fun of good-naturedly (as by reminding one of an actual fault, foible, failure, or shortcoming, by exaggerated praise obviously remote from the truth, or by playful imputation of undeserved success). The same distinctions in implications and connotations are found in their corresponding nouns.

Banter is the generic term and may usually be substituted for any of the others, though not without loss of specificness

{

"Why didn't you get tipsy, Sir? Don't you ever intoxicate yourself but at lawful marriages? . . ." Ripton endured his bantering that he might hang about Richard— Meredith

}

To chaff is to nettle with rough banter

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they chaffed me for leaving so early— Price

}

Kid is frequently as general in meaning as banter

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he is very fond of placing his hand on his heart and declaiming about his warm virtues. He gets a lot of kidding for it— Gunther

}

More often than perhaps any other word in this group, however, it specifically implies an attempt at good-natured imposition on one's gullibility; thus, "No kidding?" is a common way of asking "Are you serious?" of one who has made a statement that sounds incredible

{

she says he's going to do a portrait of her. I think he's kidding her— Harper's

}

Used with a reflexive pronoun, kid implies a shutting one's eyes to the truth

{

if you think you can avoid hard work and long hours and yet write something memorable, you are just kidding yourself

}

To rag is to banter repeatedly or persistently and often annoyingly to the victim

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there were, even, no unpleasantnesses (aside from a bit of ragging about his galoshes . . .)—Bergen Evans

}

Rib implies bantering under conditions which make it impossible or inadvisable for the butt to retort or defend himself and also may imply specifically the enactment of a role on the part of the ribber

{

high government officials are ribbed in the skits presented yearly before the Gridiron Club in Washington

}

{

ribs her fellow Russians as the temperamental ballerina who introduces her equals as her "supporting cast"— Time

}

Josh and especially jolly imply transparent good humor in the funmaker.

Josh usually suggests homeliness and unsophistication

{

for children he has jokes and candy. He cheers the men . . . and joshes the women— Time

}

{

running the chatty, homespun, joshing sort of thing that actually goes on in a town— S.R.L.

}

Jolly often implies an ulterior aim such as putting the person bantered into good humor so that he will grant a favor

{

he was a good salesman who jollied his customers, but not too obviously

}

{

jollied and joked with sailors in the street— Wecter

}

Analogous words: twit, rally, deride, *ridicule