WordWealth: badinage

bad·i·nage , n., v., -naged, -nag·ing.

–n. 1. light, playful banter or raillery.

–v.t. 2. to banter with or tease (someone) playfully.

[1650–60; < F, equiv. to badin(er) to joke, trifle (v. deriv. of badin joker, banterer < OPr: fool; bad(ar) to gape (< VL batāre; cf. BAY2) + -in < L -īnus -INE1) + -age -AGE] (Random House Webster's Unabridged). Look at Thesaurus

The only trouble is Robert might start taking the best horses, like Rodrigo did,' John said, continuing the badinage that he enjoys with his son. 'It's a pity when he lets his father do all the hard work and then steps in. —— Genevieve Murphy in La Baule, France; Father and Son Union; The Guardian; May 6, 2001

In the book accompanying the series, also called Planet Ustinov (Simon & Schuster), Waldman lays emphasis on Ustinov the entertainer, prompting Ustinov to add a more sober epilogue. He explains: "I did not wish to leave the impression that I had accompanied my colleagues on this incredible journey merely to seek to brighten their waking hours with badinage." —— Don't Give up the Day Job; The Telegraph; Nov 16, 1998

The badinage was inconsequential, reduced to who knew whom and wasn't the weather glorious in St. Tropez, or the Bahamas, Hawaii, or Hong Kong? —— Robert Ludlum, The Matarese Countdown

rail·ler·y , n., pl. -ler·ies.

1. good-humored ridicule; banter. 2. a bantering remark. [1645–55; < F raillerie, equiv. to MF raill(er) to RAIL2 + -erie -ERY]

—Syn.1. jesting, joking, badinage, chaff, pleasantry.

Anticipating the raillery he'd be subjected to at his 50th birthday party, Dan got the jump on everyone by signing his invitations "The Old Geezer." —— Merriam-Webster

There is a lively element of absurdist theater in Szymborska's affection for these puckish gambits and devices -- an impresario's gusto in summoning the subversive muses of farce, burlesque, and masquerade -- but I have yet to read a poem of hers that amounts to a pretext for mere cleverness or cheek. No matter how cockeyed the premise, however teasing and needling the tone of light raillery, Szymborska's soliloquies always seem to be staging little insurrections of sense and sanity and acute moral reckoning. She may be putting on a one-woman show, with all her sly diversions and winsome impersonations, but it's an act that's been booked into Plato's cave. —— David Barber; Poland's Blithe Spirit, Discovering Wislawa Szymborska—and the "little insurrections of sense and sanity" at the heart of the Nobel laureate's poetry; the Atlantic; May 22, 1997

Did you know? (Merriam-Webster)
"Raillery" is the anglicized form of the French word "raillerie," which stems from the Middle French verb "railler," meaning "to mock." "Railler," which probably comes from Old French "reillier" ("to growl" or "to mutter") and ultimately from Late Latin "ragere" ("to neigh"), also gave us our verb "rail." But "rail" and "raillery" are quite different in tone. "Rail" means "to revile or scold in harsh, insolent, or abusive language," whereas "raillery" usually suggests cutting wit that pokes fun good-naturedly.

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