Wednesday, September 24, 2014

word of the day: badinage

The word of the day is badinage:


noun
1. light, playful banter or raillery.
< French, equivalent to badin (er) to joke, trifle (verbal derivative of badin joker, banterer < Old Provençal: fool; bad (ar) to gape (< Vulgar Latin batāre) (dictionary.com)
"The old back-and-forth is still there, the old badinage, the old rapport; and with pleasure we finish our hamburgers and catch up on each other's news."
 - Joseph O'Neill, "The Referees", 1 September 2014 The New Yorker 

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