Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

kid on the square

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.61 in modern English

Syllables: kid on the square
IPA

31

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

1

Syllables

13

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To be joking, but at the same time really mean it.

Example Sentences

""I'm kiddin' on the square," said Hanks."
"So I always knew what Pierce meant, in a kidding-on-the-square kind of way."
""At least he likes historical characters," I kidded on the square. No one laughed so I went to work recruiting other directors."

Etymology

Dates back to the early 20th century. Later popularized by Mose Allison in his 1983 song "Kidding on the Square" on the album Middle Class White Boy (described in the liner notes as "joking with serious intent") and later by Al Franken describing the negative reaction of Paul Wolfowitz to one of his jokes in the 2003 book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.

Inflected Forms

kids on the square (present, singular) kidding on the square (participle, present) kidded on the square (participle, past) kidded on the square (past)

Synonyms

ha ha only serious

Questions

What does kid on the square mean?: To be joking, but at the same time really mean it.
Where does kid on the square come from?: Dates back to the early 20th century. Later popularized by Mose Allison in his 1983 song "Kidding on the Square" on the album Middle Class White Boy (described in the liner notes as "joking with serious intent") and later by Al Franken describing the negative reaction of Paul Wolfowitz to one of his jokes in the 2003 book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.

How to pronounce kid on the square

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