{ "@context": { "@vocab": "https://schema.org/", "balagha": "https://al-balagha.com/ns/", "skos": "http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#" }, "@type": [ "Article", "WebPage" ], "@id": "https://doi.org/10.64393/balagha.Q122", "balagha:schemaVersion": "1.0", "name": "SERIOUS: Humour Through Which Seriousness is Intended", "balagha:htmlTitle": "SERIOUS: Humour Through Which Seriousness is Intended - Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric", "url": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/SERIOUS:_Humour_Through_Which_Seriousness_is_Intended", "identifier": [ { "@type": "PropertyValue", "propertyID": "DOI", "value": "10.64393/balagha.Q122", "url": "https://doi.org/10.64393/balagha.Q122" }, { "@type": "PropertyValue", "propertyID": "MediaWiki Page ID", "value": "560" } ], "sameAs": [ "https://doi.org/10.64393/balagha.Q122", "https://balaghabase.org/entity/Q122" ], "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "al-Balagha.com: The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric", "url": "https://al-balagha.com/" }, "isPartOf": { "@type": "CollectionPage", "name": "al-Balagha.com: The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric", "url": "https://al-balagha.com/" }, "inLanguage": "en-GB", "keywords": [ "Arabic Rhetoric", "Balagha", "Corpus Linguistics", "SERIOUS: Humour Through Which Seriousness is Intended", "Humour Through Which Seriousness is Intended", "هزل يراد به جد", "hazl yurādu bihi jidd", "SERIOUS", "Q122", "Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘)", "Persuasive Tricks", "CC-2", "W4415405309" ], "citation": "Marathe, Mandar. 'SERIOUS: Humour Through Which Seriousness is Intended'. 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How is it with your lizard meals?\nExplanation\nThe utterance takes the form of teasing mockery, but the intended purpose is serious censure of boastfulness.[3]Source Example🔗\nأنزلنا الدَّهْرُ على مَعْشر / فَما أكَلنا من ضِيافاتهمتَغُرُّ بالناس أحاديثهم / ما أكَلَت منا بَراغيثهمFate decreed that we be guests of people / yet we did not feast upon their bounty.Their talk deceives people / but their fleas feasted upon us.\nExplanation\nThe speaker presents the complaint in a witty and humorous form, but the intended meaning is serious blame directed at the hosts' poor hospitality.[1][2]Constructed Example🔗\nيا صديقي، ما أروعَ كرمَك! دعوتَنا إلى وليمةٍ فاخرة، وقدَّمتَ لنا ماءً وابتسامة.My friend, how magnificent your generosity! You invited us to a grand feast, then served us water and a smile.\nExplanation\nThe utterance adopts the outward form of praise and admiration, but the intended purpose is serious blame directed at the host's failure to honour his guests as promised.", "notes": "Terminology: The expression literally means \"jest by which seriousness is intended.\" The defining contrast lies between the outward humorous form and the inward serious purpose.", "references": [ { "@type": "balagha:Reference", "@id": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/SERIOUS:_Humour_Through_Which_Seriousness_is_Intended#cite_note-rf-1", "citationNumber": 1, "citationKey": "rf", "text": "W. P. Heinrichs, ‘Rhetorical Figures’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 657, ISBN 0415068088. DOI: 10.4324/9780203020425", "html": "W. P. Heinrichs, ‘Rhetorical Figures’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 657, ISBN 0415068088. DOI: 10.4324/9780203020425", "identifiers": { "@type": "balagha:Identifiers", "isbn": [ "0415068088" ], "doi": [ "10.4324/9780203020425" ], "url": [ "https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203020425", "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/Special:BookSources/0415068088" ] }, "links": [ { "@type": "balagha:Link", "text": "Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature", "url": "https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203020425", "rel": "nofollow", "kind": "external" }, { "@type": "balagha:Link", "text": "ISBN 0415068088", "url": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/Special:BookSources/0415068088", "kind": "internal" }, { "@type": "balagha:Link", "text": "10.4324/9780203020425", "url": "https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203020425", "rel": "nofollow", "kind": "external" } ] }, { "@type": "balagha:Reference", "@id": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/SERIOUS:_Humour_Through_Which_Seriousness_is_Intended#cite_note-cachia2-2", "citationNumber": 2, "citationKey": "cachia2", "text": "See: (103) Serious Jest in: Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer : A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), 32-33, ISBN 9783447040327.", "html": "See: (103) Serious Jest in: Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer : A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), 32-33, ISBN 9783447040327.", "identifiers": { "@type": "balagha:Identifiers", "isbn": [ "9783447040327" ], "doi": [], "url": [ "https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/55982312", "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/Special:BookSources/9783447040327" ] }, "links": [ { "@type": "balagha:Link", "text": "The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer : A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār", "url": "https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/55982312", "rel": "nofollow", "kind": "external" }, { "@type": "balagha:Link", "text": "ISBN 9783447040327", "url": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/Special:BookSources/9783447040327", "kind": "internal" } ] }, { "@type": "balagha:Reference", "@id": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/SERIOUS:_Humour_Through_Which_Seriousness_is_Intended#cite_note-cachia3-3", "citationNumber": 3, "citationKey": "cachia3", "text": "See: (103) al-hazl al-murād bihi al-jidd in: Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer : A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), ISBN 9783447040327.", "html": "See: (103) al-hazl al-murād bihi al-jidd in: Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer : A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), ISBN 9783447040327.", "identifiers": { "@type": "balagha:Identifiers", "isbn": [ "9783447040327" ], "doi": [], "url": [ "https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/55982312", "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/Special:BookSources/9783447040327" ] }, "links": [ { "@type": "balagha:Link", "text": "The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer : A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār", "url": "https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/55982312", "rel": "nofollow", "kind": "external" }, { "@type": "balagha:Link", "text": "ISBN 9783447040327", "url": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/Special:BookSources/9783447040327", "kind": "internal" } ] }, { "@type": "balagha:Reference", "@id": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/SERIOUS:_Humour_Through_Which_Seriousness_is_Intended#cite_note-akkawi-4", "citationNumber": 4, "citationKey": "akkawi", "text": "Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 671.", "html": "Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 671.", "identifiers": { "@type": "balagha:Identifiers", "isbn": [], "doi": [], "url": [] }, "links": [] } ], "pageHistory": [ { "@type": "balagha:PageHistoryEntry", "position": 1, "date": "2026-02-11", "description": "Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CH-13: Humour Through Which Seriousness is Intended to SERIOUS: Humour Through Which Seriousness is Intended.", "text": "2026-02-11 - 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How is it with your lizard meals?", "explanation": "The utterance takes the form of teasing mockery, but the intended purpose is serious censure of boastfulness.[3]" }, { "@type": "balagha:Example", "exampleType": "source", "exampleOf": "SERIOUS", "exampleOfName": "Humour Through Which Seriousness is Intended", "sourceReferences": [ "cite_note-rf-1", "cite_note-cachia2-2" ], "id": "XGRWX", "url": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/SERIOUS:_Humour_Through_Which_Seriousness_is_Intended#XGRWX", "exampleOfEntity": { "@id": "https://balaghabase.org/entity/Q122" }, "inLanguage": "ar", "arabic": "أنزلنا الدَّهْرُ على مَعْشر / فَما أكَلنا من ضِيافاتهم تَغُرُّ بالناس أحاديثهم / ما أكَلَت منا بَراغيثهم", "english": "Fate decreed that we be guests of people / yet we did not feast upon their bounty. Their talk deceives people / but their fleas feasted upon us.", "explanation": "The speaker presents the complaint in a witty and humorous form, but the intended meaning is serious blame directed at the hosts' poor hospitality.[1][2]" }, { "@type": "balagha:Example", "exampleType": "constructed", "exampleOf": "SERIOUS", "exampleOfName": "Humour Through Which Seriousness is Intended", "id": "KVUG8", "url": "https://al-balagha.com/wiki/SERIOUS:_Humour_Through_Which_Seriousness_is_Intended#KVUG8", "exampleOfEntity": { "@id": "https://balaghabase.org/entity/Q122" }, "inLanguage": "ar", "arabic": "يا صديقي، ما أروعَ كرمَك! دعوتَنا إلى وليمةٍ فاخرة، وقدَّمتَ لنا ماءً وابتسامة.", "english": "My friend, how magnificent your generosity! 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