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I want to describe my own sense of humor :-)

I recently sent my friend's mother a thank you note for hosting me. She replied by saying that thank you notes are very important, and my note was very appreciated.

I responded by saying that thank you notes are indeed very important, and I've been trying to teach her son this for a long time. For example, I continued, I recently lent her son my sleeping bag and (as of yet) have received neither the sleeping bag nor a thank you note!

We are all very close, which is why I am able to rib her son in front of his mother like that.

But I want to be able to describe this sense of humor. Could my comment ribbing her son be described as 'cheeky'? I can think of no other word to describe it really. My intention was just to make fun of him in an amusing way... all the more amusing because it's a letter to his mother.

Oh, and the irony here is, it was her own son that reminded me to send a thank you note.

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So, you could say she sent a thank you note for your thank you note ;)

Yes, 'Cheeky' is an entirely appropriate word to use here.

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  • Be careful with cheeky. It is a word which is used differently in all sorts of registers.
    – WS2
    Commented Oct 13, 2014 at 18:05
  • @WS2 But what about in this context?
    – ktm5124
    Commented Oct 13, 2014 at 19:20
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    @ktm5124 Yes. In this situation it would have an innocent enough ring about it. But in another register that springs to mind, if someone tries to pull a fast one in a business deal, bordering on but not actually fraudulent, that is sometimes referred to as cheeky.
    – WS2
    Commented Oct 13, 2014 at 19:33
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    @WS2, really? I've never heard it used as thus. From Wiktionary: Adjective; cheeky (comparative cheekier, superlative cheekiest); (informal) Impudent; impertinent; impertinently bold, often in a way that is regarded as endearing or amusing.
    – davecw
    Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 0:06
  • @davecw The OED meaning is: Characterized by ‘cheek’; insolent or audacious in address; coolly impudent or presuming. It doesn't even go into the 'endearing' and 'amusing' nuances. You would probably need to refer to an urban dictionary for those. Are you USA or UK oriented by the way? There is probably a big difference here. I'm strictly UK. If you look at the OED entries on cheek I think my point will be clearer.
    – WS2
    Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 7:41

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