taking the piss (out of)<!-- --> | <!-- -->The Australian Dictionary of Invisible Culture for Teachers

The Australian Dictionary of Invisible Culture for Teachers


taking the piss (out of)

phrase: someone says these words (see more)

Many people in Australia know that sometimes it can be like this:

Someone (e.g. Tania) says something about something to someone else (e.g. Catherine).

Tania knows that Catherine thinks something else about this thing.

When Tania says it to Catherine, she thinks like this: I don’t think like this about this thing. I want Catherine not to know it for a short time. If it is like this, I can feel something good because of it, like I can want to laugh. If other people know, they can feel something good because of it at the same time. They can laugh.

When Tania does this, she thinks like this about Catherine: I know that Catherine can feel something bad for a short time because of this. I don’t want not to do it because of this.

Note

Other phrases which exemplify this attitude are 'taking the piss' 'pulling someone's leg' 'messing with someone' or 'geeing someone up'

"Val and Leigh love taking the piss out of Cameron."

"Frank would you quit taking the piss out of me!"

"Zelda was fed up with people taking the piss out of her for her accent."

laughing with not laughing atjocular deception/provocationrubbishingjocular abusedeadpan jocular irony


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