mickey
part of speech
proper noun (Mickey — a name); noun (the mickey — UK, informal)
meaning for a pupil
1) (a name) Mickey is a first name, short for Michael, and the name of Mickey Mouse, the famous cartoon mouse from Disney. tree →
2) (UK, informal) To take the mickey (out of someone) means to tease them or make fun of them. tree →
3) (informal) Mickey Mouse (as an adjective) means silly, small or not serious: a Mickey Mouse job. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life, Mickey Mouse is on toys, clothes and in theme parks. In British, Irish and Australian playground talk, «stop taking the mickey» means stop teasing; teasing that hurts someone is unkind, and teachers deal with it. In a story, it shows friendly banter or meanness depending on tone. Phrases: «Mickey Mouse», «take the mickey», «extract the mickey» (joking).
examples
- (a name) Mickey Mouse has big round ears. tree →
- (a name) My uncle Mickey is a builder. tree →
- (UK, informal) Stop taking the mickey out of my haircut! tree →
- (UK, informal) Are you taking the mickey? That's a terrible joke. tree →
- (informal) It was a Mickey Mouse competition with only three teams. tree →
- We met Mickey at Disneyland. tree →
note
«Take the mickey» is UK, Irish and Australian; Americans more often say «make fun of» or «tease». Capital M for the name. «Mickey Mouse» as an adjective is a bit rude about something.
In the corpora
- Many cartoon characters, like Mickey Mouse and the Simpsons, have four fingers because it is quicker to draw and looks clearer.
- The mickey-taking hits the jump from one to all: "Nana, I put honey on my maths.
- The playground takes the mickey out of the claim, not the kid: "Everyone, is it?
- Kids take the mickey out of the runaway story: "Expelled?
- The mickey-taking hits the "due" idea: "The coin doesn't know, bro.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «mickey» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.