Basic Trope: A character offends someone and justifies it by saying they were joking.
- Straight: Alpha Bitch Gwynn Tracey offends Bully Magnet Pete Perkins by talking about how Pete is a loser, but claims that she was messing with him.
- Exaggerated:
- Gwynn threatens to push Pete off a cliff, but he justifies it by saying that she was joking with him and then whines about how "overly sensitive" Pete is.
- Gwynn says something absolutely horrible to Pete, causing him to burst into tears. Gwynn still tries to justify it by saying she was joking.
- Too Funny to Be Evil.
- Downplayed:
- Gwynn says that Pete is an idiot and tells him that she was joking.
- Gwynn says he is joking, but acknowledges later that her joke went too far, and that it was pretty tasteless.
- Gwynn says something that isn't actually offensive, only something that a cloudcuckoolander would say — but, when others look at her strangely, she claims she was just joking.
- Justified:
- Gwynn doesn't want to take responsibility for offending Pete.
- Gwynn wants an excuse to insult Pete and get away with it.
- Gwynn has a bizarre sense of humor, and she really was joking.
- Inverted:
- Gwynn compliments Pete, but then says that she was joking.
- gwynn tells an obviously over-the-top joking statement, but Pete takes it too straight. Not helping Gwynn's case is her sarcastic affirmation of the seriousness of the joke.
- Gwynn makes a sarcastic suggestion, but when Pete takes it seriously, Gwynn claims she was serious too.
- Gwynn insults Pete, who tries to take it as a joke, but Gwynn tells him that she is dead serious.
- Gwynn makes a serious comment — but Pete, who doesn't take Gwynn seriously, responds with, "Haha, that was a good joke!"
- Subverted: Pete waits for Gwynn to say it was a joke, but she says he's serious.
- Double Subverted: It then turns out Gwynn was just prolonging the joke.
- Parodied: Gwynn actually does push Pete down a cliff, then shouts that it was just a practical joke. Pete laughs as he falls to his death.
- Zig-Zagged: It's completely unclear how serious Gwynn was.
- Averted:
- Gwynn means what she says about Pete.
- Gwynn and Pete are Vitriolic Best Buds, they know the things they are saying are jokes without having to justify themselves.
- Gwynn takes full responsibility on insulting Pete.
- Enforced: Comedic Sociopathy.
- Lampshaded: "Oi, how come did the 'just joking' phrase become an excuse for anything?"
- Invoked: After being insulted, Pete pretends to find the remark funny, only to give Gwynn a subtle Death Glare. Gwynn realizes her only option is to pretend to "agree" with Pete that he was joking.
- Exploited: When Gwynn figures out Pete is dumb and gullible enough to believe it whenever he's told a remark at his expense was meant in jest, he completely buys it with full earnest.
- Defied: Pete calls Gwynn out, saying that you can't go around saying whatever you want and getting away with it by using "I was joking" as an excuse.
- Discussed: "You can't even tell a joke these days. Someone will take it seriously, and the 'just joking' explanation is only gonna be seen as further offense due to so much abuse and misuse."
- Conversed:Alice: You ever notice that shit that Gwynn always pulls when she says something that gets her a bunch of angry looks and she's like, "Bro, I was just joking, chill," except when someone else sucks as much as she does and agrees with them and all of a sudden, she meant it?"
Bob: That's a classic example of Schrödinger's Douchebag: Someone who is always saying cringey, stupid, edgelordy shit and is at the same time swings between joking and not joking, depending on the reception they receive. - Deconstructed:
- No matter how much she excuses herself, Gwynn's odd sense of humor manages to drive others away.
- Gwynn really wasn't joking, she meant to insult whoever he was talking to — and saying she was just joking is a Verbal Backspace that she is not even trying to feign sincerity about.
- When Gwynn says she's just joking, she gets a bullet in the face before she even manages to finish her sentence) by Pete, who finds her first joke to be too offensive for him and Gywnn's justification being a flimsy excuse to avoid the responsibility of being sensitive to others.
- Reconstructed:
- Gwynn decides to find those who would be fond of her humor.
- Gwynn decides to tell Pete her jokes while doing his best to avoid offending him.
- Implied:
- After Pete gets mad at Gwynn calling him a loser, Gwynn insists she wouldn't call him a loser, but doesn't say why.
- After every jape and insult, Gwynn slips and stumbles in a seemingly strategic manner, clearly using her drunken state to justify the remarks.
- Played for Drama: Gwynn is being abusive to Pete and tries to excuse her remarks of verbal/psychological abuse as jokes. Pete spends much of the plot conflicted, asking himself if he should break it off with Gwynn.
Back to "Just Joking" Justification.
