I'm not being funny

English Pronunciation en en-au-I'm not being funny.ogg AU Phrase phr ~be[ing] en UK idiom Used as a softening preface to a statement that might be taken as offensive or malicious. en 2009 Gavin Dudeney; Nicky Hockly Learning English as a Foreign Language For Dummies 296 Clara: Well, I'm not being funny, but those clothes aren't really suitable for having meetings with clients.John: Really?Clara: I think so – a shirt and tie, or suit and shirt would be better. en 2011 Martin Stanley The Gamblers 280 I'm not being funny, but you make me nervous. en 2013 Kate Tempest Wasted 13 You know, I'm not being funny, but, you know, when he's with all his cool new 'creative' mates. They ain't real, Tony. They ain't like us. They sit around, with ironic trousers on and three haircuts each, waiting to be discovered. References en 2009 Judith Baxter Kieran Wallace Outside in-group and out-group identities? Constructing male solidarity and female exclusion in UK builders' talk Discourse & Society 20 4