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Article published In: ‘Only joking’: Negotiating offensive humour in interaction
Edited by Chi-Hé Elder, Eleni Kapogianni and Ibi Baxter-Webb
[Pragmatics & Cognition 32:1] 2025
► pp. 151–177

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Negotiating offensive humour online

‘Only joking’ claims on Reddit

ORCiD logo with link | University of Helsinki
ORCiD logo with link | University of Helsinki
Published online: 26 September 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.24023.bir
Abstract
This paper investigates the negotiation of offensive humour through ‘only joking’ claims made by participants on the social media platform Reddit. Metapragmatic claims of jocular intent can be added to a post containing offensive humour pre-emptively or after a reaction by another participant. In both cases, the participant making the claim tries to show that problematic humour in the post is not meant to give offence, and that they should not be held accountable for such an intention. Using corpus methods and close analysis, we analyse indicators of jocular intent (e.g., “just kidding”, “take a joke”) to find out how offensive or problematic humour is presented, perceived and negotiated. The findings show how claims of jocular intent can be accepted or rejected after a negotiation of the offensiveness based on subreddit community norms. Offensive humour is negotiated verbally and through the upvote/downvote affordance of Reddit, indicating the ascription of accountability.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Jocular claims, intentions and accountability
  • 3.Offensive humour in online communities
  • 4.Data and methods
    • 4.1Reddit as a research context of offensive humour
    • 4.2Data collection and analysis
  • 5.Analysis
    • 5.1Defending own jocular intent
      • 5.1.1Pre-emptive clarifications
      • 5.1.2Reparative claims
    • 5.2Negotiating the joking intent of another user
    • 5.3Intent and editability of Reddit
  • 6.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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