Despite this, my enquiry about the possible provision of a large-print copy of the lunch menu in a well-known restaurant was greeted with barely concealed amusement.
Russian reviewers have responded with both praise and barely concealed amusement to the BBC's adaptation of War and Peace, with reviewers describing it as a "medium-budget soap opera" and a "classic with cleavage".
"Manny!" Ms. Perez bellowed in a forceful tone that could not conceal the amusement on her face.
When Mr Lugovoi was initially described in the British press as a former KGB agent, one of his old friends could scarcely conceal his amusement.
People complain that there are no laughs in the Bible (actually Sarah, the wife of Abraham, fails to conceal her amusement when she's told that she's about to conceive, at the age of 90: "Therefore Sarah laughed within herself… And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sara laugh…"), but let the rabbis loose on it, and it's practically standup material.
But Hale is notorious for struggling to stifle laughter mid-scene, and in the episode he turns his back to the camera to conceal his amusement.
(Miller barely conceals her amusement when Todd is one-upped by the women in his professional life).
Late in the novel, he tells another rector how he and his wife have stayed up and armed themselves several nights running, for fear that the parsonage might be overrun by Catholic rioters - "Did they burn anything except the turf, Mr O'Joscelyn?" inquires Mr Armstrong, barely concealing his amusement at the Orangeman.
PREMINGER (smoothly): No. JUDGE KLEIN (looking as though he were trying to conceal his own amusement): May I suggest, Mr. Preminger, that you don't answer a question if you see Mr. Lane getting up to make an objection.
He tried without success to explain how Fiona's surprise and apologies now seemed somehow like routine courtesy, not quite concealing a private amusement.
He does not conceal the artifice of his mythological stories — deus-ex-machina endings seem designed to cause as much amusement as awe — and thereby acknowledges the limits of art.
