"All seriousness aside"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

"All seriousness aside" apparently started out as a comedian's line-- I
see it credited to Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, and Steve Allen, so it
probably goes back to the vaudeville era. (The Southern comedian Brother
Dave Gardner even recorded an album called "All Seriousness Aside" in
1963.) As I understand it, the expression often functioned as something of
an ironic metajoke, signaling to the audience that the impending shift to
an ostensibly more serious tone shouldn't be taken very seriously.

It seems to me, though, that the comedian's mock-seriousness has been lost
along the way, with the result that "all seriousness aside" now gets
bandied about in all seriousness. I see the expression used as an
equivalent to "all kidding/joking aside" without a trace of irony. Perhaps
it's now best understood as a straight-up idiom blend, mixing "all kidding
aside" with "in all seriousness".

So has "all seriousness aside" joined the ranks of established
contra-idioms like "literally" = "not literally", "could care less" =
"could not care less", and the Language Log favorite, "still unpacked" =
"still packed"? Some Google-alia for your perusal...

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http://www.fly-in.com/faq.html
Tell me about the golf course?
It is green and grassy and has holes in it. All seriousness aside, it is a
good course that is challenging but not daunting.
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http://www.thescl.com/site/scl/content.php?type=1&id=5893
Whenever I get messages asking for advice or help dealing with one's
career in music, the first thought that always occurs to me is "Why ask
me? I feel as though I'm the one who needs the help."
All seriousness aside, I decided to compile some of these questions and
answer them to the best of my ability.
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http://www.pangomedia.com/pr_050416_officecrash.html
This morning (Sat, Apr 16) at approximately 2am we had an independent
contractor come and add downtown’s very latest late-night, last-call,
open-air parking facility! This spacious, two-vehicle parking facility
will be available after a bit of clean up but we at PangoMedia are quite
excited about what this means to our working environment and the continued
success of the company.
[picture of office's damaged facade]
All seriousness aside, our office was the victim of a hit ‘n’ run last night.
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http://www.mac360.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/10/
Tera's got what she’s got. She could pay to have more but I’d still win.
Mine are real and they’re fantastic.
All seriousness aside, I have to admit to being impressed by Apple’s
quarterly numbers released today.
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http://www.theidesofmarch.com/XMnews.htm
And, in a late night session, The Babushka Brass beat President Bush in
Pinochle 3 games out of 4, and thus, were each promised a commemorative
belt buckle.
All seriousness aside, A big thanks to the entire staff of XM radio,
especially Bruce Kelly, Heidi Selexa, and the technical staff who rose
above and beyond the call of duty.
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http://www.davidacer.com/DARAMMCrev.htm
Sounds like a funny, tall Canadian we know has been spending too much time
sampling the free brownies in the comedy club green room.
All seriousness aside, I will be the first to admit that Mr. Acer has a
genuine knack for creating commercial tricks with simple and to-the-point
methods.
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http://www.tppc.org/publications_pa_doctor,lawyer.htm
An architects will say, “If it looks bad and smells bad, an engineer drew
it.” Now you are thinking, “What has any of this got to do with aquatics?”
Well, all seriousness aside, it has plenty to do with aquatics.
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etc., etc.


--Ben Zimmer