tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post4525036768745564798..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: I'm not being funny, but...lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-51900298692461464692016-04-13T20:55:33.758+01:002016-04-13T20:55:33.758+01:00"I'm not trying to be funny but" was..."I'm not trying to be funny but" was definitely in circulation when I was growing up in New Jersey in the 50's and 60's. It meant something like "This isn't just a smart-aleck comment, it's literally true." I immediately thought of the Roches' song (they were from New Jersey) "The Train": <br />"Even though my baggage and I are using up a two-person seat<br />"I'm not trying to be funny but the guy who sits down next to me<br />"Is even bigger than that."Steve Dunhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970801099772755392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-38997697342467324192013-08-04T09:20:15.492+01:002013-08-04T09:20:15.492+01:00I'm not being funny but...this idiom tends to ...I'm not being funny but...this idiom tends to be used almost exclusively by people from working class backgrounds in the UK. I like to tease my girlfriend who is fond of using it. I think the person who commented that it's very similar to saying "I'm not racist". I think it's an example of false modesty that is quite prevalent in British culture. I'm British, for what it's worth. There's another idiom.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14505077005543591409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-81018003498181324912011-06-02T18:21:17.992+01:002011-06-02T18:21:17.992+01:00A bloke on The Apprentice last night said "I&...A bloke on The Apprentice last night said "I'm not being funny, that's brilliant." Or words to that effect. No 'but' and intended as a sincere compliment. Baffling.Solonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-54906060920584044342011-06-02T08:39:02.491+01:002011-06-02T08:39:02.491+01:00Or "In a manner of speaking", which is w...Or "In a manner of speaking", which is what my mother added when she realised she'd just told one of my friends that my father's hip "was on its last legs"! He has since had a new one.Mrs Redboots (Annabel Smyth)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11270027663691257254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-19801537186881274182011-06-01T19:30:45.216+01:002011-06-01T19:30:45.216+01:00Concerning modesty rules:
in AmE, one often hears...Concerning modesty rules:<br /><br />in AmE, one often hears "...no pun intended..." even if no pun has, in fact, been perpetrated, but as a rider on a play on words, or a double entendre, or idiom.<br /><br />In BrE, such modesty is routinely expressed by "...as it were...", informing the listener that the speaker is aware of the possibility of a corny or cliched linguistic usage.Andrew Tyndallhttp://www.tyndallreport.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-71670397894681688332011-05-22T22:17:55.930+01:002011-05-22T22:17:55.930+01:00Coming a bit late to the discussion, but I seem mo...Coming a bit late to the discussion, but I seem mostly to hear it as "I'm not being funny or anything", which adds another layer of diffidence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-63830749867734592542011-05-22T17:25:50.388+01:002011-05-22T17:25:50.388+01:00The AmE version I hear most often (in NYC) is &quo...The AmE version I hear most often (in NYC) is "No offense, but ... " followed by an offensive remark.<br /><br />"I hate to say it" is indeed another one, though at least sometimes said truly more in sorrow than in anger.<br /><br />A <i>benign</i> cousin in my neck of the woods would be "Not for nothin' but ... " which seems to have become a pet peeve for many who don't understand it. It means the speaker thinks something is important, but the listener is free to take it or leave it.Amy Stollerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14067839246823753590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-16350361416674588222011-05-20T06:32:10.746+01:002011-05-20T06:32:10.746+01:00Brilliant, I forgot about that one now I'm in ...Brilliant, I forgot about that one now I'm in the States. Will have to start using that when I need to be passive aggressive. Notice the meany girls in my daughters class always preface snarky comments with "not being mean but"... As Amanda says too, love the "Bless her". Forgot about that one too...About Last Weekendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04716571630418078937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-9187258647872559822011-05-17T18:15:19.608+01:002011-05-17T18:15:19.608+01:00Not being funny John, but shut up you plank. (x)Not being funny John, but shut up you plank. (x)Solonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-56558401564242120722011-05-17T00:35:40.415+01:002011-05-17T00:35:40.415+01:00It always amuses me how it gets used, like a lot o...It always amuses me how it gets used, like a lot of similar "no offence meant"-type phrases, immediately before highly, obviously, directly insulting statements. "I'm not bein' funny, mate, but <i>fuck off!</i>"<br /><br />Actually, uses like that make me wonder if it doesn't (at least sometimes) mean the ha-ha sense of funny. As Kate Fox's book describes in detail, we young British men are somewhat fond of using utterly foul language with our best friends, and that sometimes makes it difficult in situations when you really -do- want to insult them. So maybe in a situation like that it could mean "I'm not bantering with you right now, I really think you're being a [expletive of your choice]".Johnny Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02332149992788801634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-12724266307575240552011-05-16T01:13:24.556+01:002011-05-16T01:13:24.556+01:00Here in South Central Pennsylvania, people will sa...Here in South Central Pennsylvania, people will say, "Not to be rude, but..."<br /><br />If I heard someone say, "I'm not being funny" the way used in the post, I would be a bit baffled, thinking, "Why are you telling me that? I could see it wasn't even funny in the first place."Pera SDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-55451973290887553822011-05-15T10:29:35.460+01:002011-05-15T10:29:35.460+01:00Nevertheless, the five corpus examples come from 1...Nevertheless, the five corpus examples come from 1990, so it existed then...but would you have heard it? Let me try out my rudimentary math(s) skills:<br /><br />Five times in 17.8 million words (in the spoken part of the BNC), means it was coming up nearly once every 6 million words. If one goes with the estimate that an average person hears 50,000 words a day, then a UK-based person in 1990 should have heard the phrase on average about 3 times per year. But, of course, it might have been limited to certain circles at that time, so some people might've heard it a lot more than others.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-58336889116273844952011-05-15T05:26:41.948+01:002011-05-15T05:26:41.948+01:00@Ken and Harry:
More anecdotal evidence that this...@Ken and Harry:<br /><br />More anecdotal evidence that this usage is recent: I emigrated from Britain to the US in 1997 and I'd never heard of it before this blog post.<br /><br />Hmmm ... I feel quite old!vphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647609487352038948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-91026450491957280932011-05-15T01:55:27.447+01:002011-05-15T01:55:27.447+01:00I'd second the idea that this is a really quit...I'd second the idea that this is a really quite recent idiom. It's hard to date when one gradually became aware of something but it feels much less than 20 years ago to me.Harry Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01675794936870568336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-11811902203550829692011-05-15T01:50:30.055+01:002011-05-15T01:50:30.055+01:00I think this usage is getting more frequent among ...I think this usage is getting more frequent among people I meet. I don't remember it from before about 20 years ago (I'm from Brighton but now live in London) <br /><br />There are variants - "I don't mean to be funny, but..." seems common.Ken Brownhttp://Ken@wibsite.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-47787307909519589902011-05-15T01:15:50.478+01:002011-05-15T01:15:50.478+01:00I knew that, but didn't type it! Correcting it...I knew that, but didn't type it! Correcting it now, thanks.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-40494720724292424022011-05-15T01:05:50.710+01:002011-05-15T01:05:50.710+01:00I'm not being funny but....it's Judith Bax...I'm not being funny but....it's Judith Baxter, not Butler.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-24878228830334302212011-05-14T23:39:45.542+01:002011-05-14T23:39:45.542+01:00We talk of the opposition Funny ha ha or funny pec...We talk of the opposition <i>Funny ha ha or funny peculiar?</i>, but these senses are <b>syntactically</b> identical. We don't say<br /><br /><i>This new stand-up <b>is being</b> funnier than the last one.</i> <br />or <i><br />The impression he left <b>was being</b> a funny one. Neither one thing nor the other.</i><br /><br />We don't even use progressive BE for a <b>temporary</b> state here. Not<br /><br /><i>That's better! You're <b>being funny</b> now.</i><br />nor<br /><i>Although things <b>are being funny</b> right now, they'll soon get back to normal.</i><br /><br />I wonder whether the origin of <i>is being funny</i> lies in the classroom. This is an accusation that teachers are (or were) apt to make of pupils — covering a fair range of (suspected) inappropriate speech.<br /><br />The fact that we use <i>is acting</i> with funny peculiar but not with funny ha ha seems to suggest that the sense of <i>funny</i> in <i>is being funny</i> is closer to the former than the latter. Shaun's suggested paraphrase of <i>ironic</i> can be used with the progressive <i>is being ironic</i>, but surely that's not a question of ironic <b>humour</b>.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-85695751696141962022011-05-14T18:22:36.001+01:002011-05-14T18:22:36.001+01:00I don't think the conversational gambit is uni...I don't think the conversational gambit is unique to British English, or restricted to several dialects. My personal experience of such remarks includes: "That's a nice tie...Did you get it at a garage sale?" "I'm not being funny, but," and its many variations are meant to give the speaker permission to voice an opinion which may be counter to the prevailing consensus, or, on a personal level, hurtful. As a semantic device, it also gives the speaker permission for a conversational exit plan, and often may be followed by "I'm not saying that you should agree with me," or "I really wasn't trying to hurt your feelings." The habit of understatement may be considered more idiosyncratic of the British than of other groups, but in my experience Americans of a certain intellectual and socio-economic stratum seem to indulge in it just as much. I grant you that the American persona is considered brash and over-enthusiastic by some, while the British persona is seen as diffident, but in my opinion (only my opinion) those characteristics are more restricted to certain sub-groups in both cultures than not.MarcLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-50469496872185768182011-05-14T18:12:34.103+01:002011-05-14T18:12:34.103+01:00It will be on the iPlayer here for seven days. Lis...<i> It will be on the iPlayer <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011290q" rel="nofollow">here</a> for seven days. Listen from <b>0:47:00.</b></i><br /><br />You'll need to click the <b>Listen now</b> button.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-63071287967474864232011-05-14T18:05:06.920+01:002011-05-14T18:05:06.920+01:00As well as corpus data, it would be interesting to...<i>As well as corpus data, it would be interesting to see how the phrase is used (if at all) in crafted naturalistic drama.</i><br /><br />An amazing short while after I wrote that, it came up in this afternoon's <i>Saturday Play</i>. It will be on the iPlayer <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011290q" rel="nofollow">here</a> for seven days. Listen from <b>0:47:00</b>.<br /><br />The characters are a granddaughter and grandmother exchanging very intimate secrets. (The girls' parents also have big secrets; that's the theme of the play.) Both speakers are painfully aware of the generation gap on top of the embarrassment of what they're revealing. We have to assume that there are no empty phrases; the writer included <i>I'm not being funny</i> as a signal of character, and the production team didn't edit it out.<br /><br />Sophie the granddaughter is making a cup of tea while Doreen, the grandmother, is trying to phone Sophie's parents to talk about Sophie's secret.<br /><br />In the previous two little scenes we've heard Doreen say <i>Maybe they've gone out</i> and we've heard the parents decide not to answer the phone. They have things to talk about and it can't be Sophie because she always texts. And if it's Doreen it might be a put down.<br /><br />DOREEN <i>(ringing tone)</i> Well, must have gone to the pub.<br />SOPHIE You think?<br />DOREEN You know, everything will work itself out.<br />SOPHIE I'm glad they weren't there.<br />DOREEN Yeah?<br />SOPHIE I'm not being funny but...<br />DOREEN <i>(interrupting)</i> You want to do things your own way.<br />SOPHIE Well, not exactly, just ...<br />DOREEN Look, I won't say anything, unless you change your mind.<br /><br />[At this point we the listeners know most of the secrets, but there's no clue as to Sophie's.]<br /><br />I think it's reasonable to conclude that what would have followed <i>I'm not being funny but</i> would have been a request not to tell her parents after all. That's clearly what Doreen understood, and the rest of the play presents her as someone who <b>does</b> understand things.<br /><br />My interpretation is that the phrases is planted as a signal of Sophie's character. In the middle of a conversation where both are trying not to embarrass, she gives an anticipatory mitigation of a request — that her grandmother won't try again to carry out her plan.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-85447503325794487902011-05-14T16:54:58.916+01:002011-05-14T16:54:58.916+01:00There's a particular use of "funny" ...There's a particular use of "funny" which is close to the odd/peculiar usage, but which is more about interpersonal relationships, as in, "she was just being a bit funny with me." That's how I hear "I'm not being funny, but -" <br /><br />I don't say "not being funny with you", but if I want to offer a minor criticism without causing a huge fuss, I do say, "I'm not trying to have a go, but - "marykmachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09111248946430990894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-59957362832602981372011-05-14T16:04:32.522+01:002011-05-14T16:04:32.522+01:00I think that in terms of it being used positively,...I think that in terms of it being used positively, as in the case of the cake, it may be an impertinence to all other bakers of cakes that you've encountered before that their cake is not as good (and may indeed include your mother's offerings and no-one likes being dismissive to mothers) - still apologetic in my mind.Dorisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-58810539323585504032011-05-14T15:14:54.431+01:002011-05-14T15:14:54.431+01:00I think you're taking a more specific sense of...I think you're taking a more specific sense of 'peculiar' than I am, Solo. I grant that there's a 'funny' meaning 'disagreeable' sense, but it doesn't come from no where, and I think this is a good candidate for supporting the theoretical claim that the various 'senses' of polysemous words are not completely distinguishable one from the other. (I'm talking like this to Solo because I know she's learnt this stuff. Former student, doncha know.) I think that there's a reason why 'funny' is used in these cases to mean 'disagreeable' and that's because it's peculiar in the context of an avoiding-directness kind of culture to be confrontational.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-74454245939594454392011-05-14T15:07:25.964+01:002011-05-14T15:07:25.964+01:00On the semantic meaning of 'funny' in tji...On the semantic meaning of 'funny' in tjis instance I'd have to concur with Doris and refute your interpretation entirely Lynneguist (sorry!)<br /><br />The 'funny' in "I'm not being..." in my experience is neither humour nor peculiarity, it means being confrontational or antagonistic. As in "They started getting funny with us, so we left before it kicked off."<br /><br />It does seem to be an implicit apology for a situation one can't control though, or for the actions of others. I have heard it used, somewhat bafflingly, in positive statements too though:<br /><br />"I'm not being funny, but this is the best pineappple upside down cake I've ever had in my life!"<br /><br />I couldn't tell you what purpose it serves there.Solonoreply@blogger.com