Taking it too far the role of ideological discourses in contesting the limits of teasing and offence

Wei Lin Melody Chang, Michael Haugh*, Hsi Yao Su

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

While teasing can cause offence, participants on television variety or game shows are generally expected to tolerate it. In this paper, we examine comments posted on YouTube in response to reports of a leaked recording of a television host in Taiwan swearing at and insulting a guest who teased the host about his “inability to take a defeat”. In so doing, we examine both the perceived limits of teasing (i.e. what is considered allowable and what goes too far), and the perceived limits of taking offence in response to teasing (i.e. what ways of indicating offence are considered allowable and what goes too far). We conclude that instances where there are disputes about whether taking offence is warranted by the teasing in question provides us with a useful lens to examine the role ideological discourses play in (re-)constituting the underlying moral fabric of social interaction.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)382-405
Number of pages24
JournalPragmatics
Volume31
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021 Jul 19

Keywords

  • Broadcast media
  • Digitally-mediated communication
  • Mandarin Chinese
  • Metapragmatics
  • Morality
  • Offence
  • Teasing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Philosophy
  • Linguistics and Language

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