mock-serious

• “David took my hand and looked into my eyes, his expression all mock-serious.”

  Simon & Schuster: She’s So Dead to Us

• “Yes, the book's too long, too in love with its own mock-serious voice.”

  The Washington Post: Review of Benjamin Hale's 'Evolution of Bruno Littlemore': Aping human love

• “Serialized in Life magazine, this deliberately ironic and mock-serious fable—with simple-minded dialogue and painfully obvious Christian symbolism—expressed his contempt for the reading public, the critics and religion.”

  The Wall Street Journal: Hemingway's Achievement

• “Though he ran a mock-serious write-in campaign for president in 1964, Dizzy always rose above politics and pettiness.”

  The Washington Post: Google and Dizzy Gillespie

• “Produced by Judd Apatow and co-starring Sean "P Diddy" Combs and Jonah Hill, the film is so full of Brandisms – those long strings of mock-serious locutions – that he might have asked for a writing credit.”

  The Guardian: Russell Brand: This charming man

• “Lani giggled at Mia, and then adopted a mock-serious tone.”

  Simon & Schuster: Rogue Wave

• “Biden's reply, in a mock-serious tone: Let me be clear.”

  The Huffington Post: Biden On Russian Spy Swap: 'I Thought They'd Take Rush Limbaugh' (VIDEO)

• “My second thought, alas, was anticipation of the inevitable squeals, whines and bellyaches that America's extreme wrong-wing noisemakers invariably shriek, accompanied by dread that the media would, with straight faces and mock-serious tones, report their nonsense.”

  Paula Gordon: Peace and Politics

• “Will you read them in a high squeaky voice or a deep mock-serious voice?”

  An Althouse blog fund-raiser.

• “Here's the thing I should explain," says Stewart, in a mock-serious tone.”

  Alan Miller: David Remnick Interviews Jon Stewart: The Truth, With Sodomy Jokes

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