Why this word is great
BADINAGE — [Noun] Light, playful banter or raillery. Its etymology is borrowed from French badinage, from badiner ("to jest, joke"), from badin ("playful"), from Occitan badar ("to gape"). Unlike "repartee," which suggests a rapier's duel of wit, or "persiflage," which implies a frothy layer of mockery, badinage is the art of keeping the conversational balloon aloft with gentle, cooperative taps. It is the soft clatter of china in a sunlit drawing room, the effortless volley of an inside joke, and the shared, knowing smile over a garden fence—a minor, civilized joy that serves as a temporary stay against the gravity of earnestness.