persiflage\PUR-suh-flahzh\ , noun;
1.Frivolous or bantering talk; a frivolous manner of treating any subject, whether serious or otherwise; light raillery.
Had never heard of it until today. Apparently it's a French word... but to be fair from 1757 which could explain why I managed to live my life without knowing it.
"Etymology: French, from persifler to banter, from per- thoroughly + siffler to whistle, hiss, boo, ultimately from Latin sibilare"
In case you want to sound smart(er) in your next conversation, I'm sure you can find a way to use "persiflage" instead of "mockery" for example.
2 comments:
Amusingly, Persiflage is a fairly common word in German. Probably back from the time when all the noble folks in Germany conversed in French...
I don`t know a word in german, who is exactly the same
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