"Tongue in cheek" nghĩa là gì?

A shark named Bruce ~ Universal Studios, Hollywood, California. Photo courtesy Prayitno.

Thành ngữ 'Tongue in cheek' có một từ mới là cheek nghĩa là cái má. Người Mỹ dùng thành ngữ này để chỉ một lời nói đùa, có ý mỉa mai.

Ví dụ
When our newspaper ran a story on April Fool’s Day (ngày nói đùa truyền thống) that Canada was going to become part of the United States, most readers laughed. They understood we wrote it tongue-in-cheek. But a few didn’t realize it was a joke (lời nói đùa) and called our offices with great concern. As a result, the newspaper had to print an apology (lời xin lỗi) to them the next day.

To promote (quảng cáo) the DVD of its classic film “Jaws”, the Hollywood studio went to several beaches and set up movie posters featuring the infamous (nổi tiếng xấu) shark with its huge sharp teeth. The advertising was meant tongue-in-cheek, but many visitors didn’t find it funny at all. Some children saw it and were to scared (sợ) to go swiming while some foreign tourists thought it was a warning not to go in the water!

Huyền Trang
VOA

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