bants
bants, bantz – sostantivo non numerabile, plurale
Whether it be swapping everyone’s places around in the Everton dressing room or engaging in quality bantz with his brother Gary on Twitter, good old Phil is always up for a laugh.
What Trump boasts in racism, misogyny and locker room bantz, he lacks in presidential experience.
Despite the top bants, deep in my soul I’m a sensitive lad really.
A voler dare una definizione di bants potremmo dire che è ‘il punzecchiarsi, lo stuzzicarsi o il prendersi in giro, di solito senza malizia, tra amici’. In effetti, quello che può sembrare dall’esterno come un umorismo grossolano e sbracato, è perfettamente tollerato tra amici. L’attività descritta come bants sembra essere più comune tra i (più o meno) giovani maschi, per quanto talvolta anche le donne siano ammesse nella cerchia dei banterers se dimostrano di essere spiritose e di non prendersi troppo sul serio: la capacità di ridere di sé oltre che degli altri è un requisito fondamentale.
Il verbo to banter in origine significava ‘canzonare pesantemente’ qualcuno; oggi il prendere in giro si è allegerito dell’elemento aggressivo e solo chi manca completamente del senso dell’umorismo può offendersi davvero. Tuttavia, la sfumatura negativa riaffiora quando attraverso un’apparente bonarietà fa capolino un atteggiamento misogino, omofobo o razzista.
Origini del termine
Bants (o bantz) deriva da banter, che risale al XVII secolo, mentre bants fa la sua comparsa nel Regno Unito ai primi del XXI. Questo tipo di accorciamento scherzoso è comune nella creazione di termini slang.
bants, bantz – noun U, plural
Whether it be swapping everyone’s places around in the Everton dressing room or engaging in quality bantz with his brother Gary on Twitter, good old Phil is always up for a laugh.
What Trump boasts in racism, misogyny and locker room bantz, he lacks in presidential experience.
Despite the top bants, deep in my soul I’m a sensitive lad really.
One definition I have seen describes bants as ‘the teasing and pisstaking that occurs between mates, usually harmless’. This is a pretty good summary of a type of humour that can seem crass or baffling to outsiders while clearly giving pleasure to those who practise it. Bants comes from the same world as the use of cheeky described in a recent post. It is overwhelmingly the preserve of young(ish) men or ‘lads’, though women are sometimes admitted to the charmed circle of banterers provided they are sufficiently witty and don’t take themselves too seriously, an ability to laugh at yourself as well as at others being a fundamental requirement of the genre.
To banter originally meant to ridicule someone aggressively, although these days the word is generally associated with light-hearted teasing which only someone devoid of humour could object to. The term’s darker overtones can still be detected, however, when misogynistic, racist and homophobic attitudes sometimes poke through the apparently good-humoured surface.
Origins
Bants (or bantz) is derived from banter, which dates back to the 17th century, while bants itself appeared in the UK early in the 21st century. This kind of playful shortening is typical of how new slang is created.
