Tongue-in-cheek

History

The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott in his 1828 The Fair Maid of Perth.

The physical act of putting one's tongue into one's cheek once signified contempt. For example, in Tobias Smollett's The Adventures of Roderick Random, which was published in 1748, the eponymous hero takes a coach to Bath and on the way apprehends a highwayman. This provokes an altercation with a less brave passenger:

The phrase appears in 1828 in The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott:

It is not clear how Scott intended readers to understand the phrase. The more modern [ironic sense appeared in a poem in The Ingoldsby Legends (1842) by the English clergyman Richard Barham, in which a Frenchman inspects a watch and cries:

The ironic usage originates with the idea of suppressed mirth—biting one's tongue to prevent an outburst of laughter.

Other literary works described using the term include Bella by Jilly Cooper.

References

References

1. Chay, H.. "Contrastive metaphor of Korean and English revealed in 'mouth' and 'tongue' expressions".
2. Zoltan, I. G.. (2006). "Use Your Body". Philologia.
3. Ayto, John. (2009). "From the Horse's Mouth". Oxford University Press.
4. Smollett, Tobias George. (1780). "The adventures of Roderick Random".
5. Owens, Gene. (4 December 2007). "'Tongue in cheek' is cut-and-dried phrase". Phrases.org.
6. Marshallsay, Nick. (2005). "The body language phrasebook". Collins & Brown.
7. Strange, Linda. (1977-04-08). "Upper-class froth". Black Country Evening Mail.