banter
part of speech
noun (banter); verb (banter, banters, bantered, bantering)
meaning for a pupil
1) Friendly, playful teasing and joking talk between people: the friends' banter. tree →
2) (verb) To talk in this friendly, joking way. tree →
3) (UK slang, "bants" or "just banter") Jokes that are meant to be funny, though sometimes they hurt. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life and stories banter shows friends who are relaxed together. In safety and kindness lessons pupils learn that if a joke hurts someone or is about how they look, it is not banter but unkindness or bullying, even if someone says "it's just banter". Phrases: friendly banter, a bit of banter, it was only banter, bants (slang).
examples
- There was friendly banter between the two teams before the match. tree →
- Dad and Grandad banter about football every Sunday. tree →
- The shopkeeper bantered with the customers. tree →
- (UK slang) "Don't get upset, it's just bants." tree →
- If it hurts someone's feelings, it isn't banter anymore. tree →
- The class enjoyed the teacher's banter. tree →
- (Ireland) The craic and banter at the party were great. tree →
- Several others bantered the old man, but he appeared to be in a good humor. tree →
note
Uncountable noun: "some banter", not "a banter". "Bants" is UK slang. Banter should be fun for everyone; using "only banter" as an excuse for unkind words is a trap.
In the corpora
- «It's just banter, innit,» he says afterwards — banter means jokey teasing.
- Teasing is only banter if everyone, including the person teased, is laughing.
- Derbies are games between local rivals; rivalry is fine as banter, not as fights or hate.
- "It's not banter if only one side is laughing."
- "It's not banter if only one side is laughing": a joke that only the joker enjoys is picking on someone.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «banter» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.