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> I guess you'd disarm the person being facecious rather than the facetiousness

No, you disarm the facetiousness, the same way you'd disarm a trap. Disarming the person wouldn't make sense.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disarm

> 2. (transitive) To deprive of the means or the disposition to harm; to render harmless or innocuous.

> [quotations] to disarm a man's wrath



Interesting, in French, you can both disarm someone or a gun.

https://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/d%C3%A9sarmer


You can disarm a person in English, but you can't disarm them of their mood.


In French neither, I took this as a figure of speech where facetiousness is likened to a weapon.




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