A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

The work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter T

Tongue in cheek

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An idiom describing speech or writing that is ironic, humorous, or not meant to be taken seriously, suggesting a playful or sarcastic tone hidden behind a seemingly earnest facade.

Detailed Definition
Tongue in cheek means not wholly serious, ironic, playful, or humorous beneath an apparently sincere statement. In poetry, the idiom is useful for satire, comic understatement, light verse, parody, and speakers whose tone must be read carefully. The bodily image suggests speech held slightly aside from literal meaning. A poet may use it to create double meaning, where the surface says one thing and tone says another. It is valuable for students learning to detect irony, wit, and tonal ambiguity.
Example
Example in poetry:
A comic poem might praise the king tongue in cheek while every compliment hides a sting; In a love poem, a tongue in cheek vow can protect shy sincerity with humour; The phrase means not entirely serious or gently ironic; A poet can use it for playful ambiguity.
Additional Notes
Tongue in cheek means ironic, playful, or not meant entirely seriously. In poetry, it is important for tone: a poem may appear solemn while secretly smiling. The idiom locates irony in the mouth, where speech and bodily gesture meet. Students should learn to detect tongue-in-cheek writing through exaggeration, incongruity, and tonal clues. It pairs well with satire, parody, mock-heroic style, and speakers who say more than they seem to mean.
Also Known As
ironic
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