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AIBU?

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Original poster

Poorly

162 replies

Everythingisnumbersnow · 04/02/2025 09:48

Aibu to find it really annoying how English people use this word?

Sick. You mean sick. Unwell. Under the weather.

Unless the question is "how did Rangers perform?" and the answer is "lol poorly" it has no place in the English language.

OP posts:
Whoarethoseguys · 04/02/2025 12:35

Why does it matter to you.? Poorly is a perfectly acceptable term to mean unwell. It has been used to mean unwell for generations. My mother who would be over 100 now would never say unwell or ill always poorly. So it's not a new use of the word.
Everyone knows what it means and language is for communicating

TweezerMay · 04/02/2025 12:35

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 04/02/2025 10:19

"Poo-er-ly" actually! Ideally with upward inflection on last syllable 😁

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Whoa, memory unlocked! West Mids myself and say poorly instead of poo-ly, but I remember a girl at primary school calling a scab on her leg a poo-ly 😁 haven’t heard it in a long time, but thanks for the flashback!

GabriellaMontez · 04/02/2025 12:34

AnnoyingHabits · 04/02/2025 11:44

Not in any hospitals I have worked in!

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Perhaps it's regional? Widely used in the midlands and the north.
Only for poorly patients though eg icu or medical. I wouldn't expect to hear it on an orthopaedic ward. Unless someone had befome very poorly!

RaraRachael · 04/02/2025 12:34

I hate it too. Never heard it until I lived in England. Don't know why it annoys me so much.

MegTheForgetfulCat · 04/02/2025 12:33

MegTheForgetfulCat · 04/02/2025 12:29

But in your example, they did poorly = they did not do well.

He is poorly = he is ill/not well. It's the same word, with the same meaning!

It's not formal language in a health context, true enough (and I don't like the word either, fwiw!), but it's perfectly correct grammatically.

Poorly-sick, otoh, is an abomination!

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Oh wait, it's just occurred to me - OP are you one of those people who replies "I'm good, thanks" when asked how you are? If so then YABVVVU.

MegTheForgetfulCat · 04/02/2025 12:29

Everythingisnumbersnow · 04/02/2025 11:01

No poorly is, as above, tummy-style baby speak

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But in your example, they did poorly = they did not do well.

He is poorly = he is ill/not well. It's the same word, with the same meaning!

It's not formal language in a health context, true enough (and I don't like the word either, fwiw!), but it's perfectly correct grammatically.

Poorly-sick, otoh, is an abomination!

MercyChant66 · 04/02/2025 12:04

apintofwine · 04/02/2025 10:17

YABU. Poorly as in unwell is different to poorly as in performed badly.

Sick is awful, it implies vomiting.

Admittedly I would tend to use poorly to describe my child being ill, and would use ill or unwell for myself

Exactly!

LoafofSellotape · 04/02/2025 12:04

User67556 · 04/02/2025 10:19

I hate it when people say 'I'm sick' it's so American and awful. Sick is vomit so if you tell me you're sick I'll assume you mean a sick bug or similar and run away from you. If you've got a cold you're ill or poorly etc but not I'M SICK. It's so jarring. I much prefer poorly.

Totally agree

Anytimeisfine · 04/02/2025 12:02

Thebellofstclements · 04/02/2025 11:58

I dislike the term "sick" being used for "ill". It used to mean "vomit" as in "I was sick everywhere" but now it's just a lazy coverall with an American accent.
"Poorly" is for young children.
"Ill" is for anyone over the age of 10.

That may be true regarding ‘sick’ where you are, but it’s certainly not true everywhere.
It’s not an Americanism.

Jo1667 · 04/02/2025 12:02

I'm originally from South Yorkshire and everyone there says Poorly.
Although my mam (aged nearly 80) says "badly", which means the same thing.

Thebellofstclements · 04/02/2025 11:58

I dislike the term "sick" being used for "ill". It used to mean "vomit" as in "I was sick everywhere" but now it's just a lazy coverall with an American accent.
"Poorly" is for young children.
"Ill" is for anyone over the age of 10.

DUsername · 04/02/2025 11:56

I'm Welsh so I assume I'm ok to use it?!

Pinkywoo · 04/02/2025 11:52

I'm not a fan of it for over 5s, but sick means vomit to most Brits, so YASU (slightly unreasonable!).

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 04/02/2025 11:47

It's fine.
It's easy to know what's being talked about by the context.

Anytimeisfine · 04/02/2025 11:46

A student doctor here (Ireland) told me her foreign colleagues had difficulty with the answer ‘cat’ given in response to their ‘how are you feeling’ type questions to patients…

Cat means awful in this sense btw.
Language is great!

AnnoyingHabits · 04/02/2025 11:44

GabriellaMontez · 04/02/2025 11:34

This term is very well used in hospitals.

Get over it.

Not in any hospitals I have worked in!

Supperlite · 04/02/2025 11:39

This is so weird to find irrationally irritating. Where I am from “sick” means vomit, so if I said, “I feel sick” listeners would understand it to mean “I feel nauseous”. It makes far more sense when feeling unwell to say, “I feel poorly”. There’s nothing babyish about the word poorly??

RedOnyx · 04/02/2025 11:39

I often ask my three year old whether she's feeling "a bit poorly". Sick means vomiting to me, and unwell is for doctors. Poorly-sick really annoys me though!

Davros · 04/02/2025 11:39

I don't like the word poorly, it's on a par with fib. But I wouldn't say sick either, that's something else 🤮
Unwell or ill will do

Sakura7 · 04/02/2025 11:38

Sick is not an American word, it's used across the English speaking world.

The term 'sick leave' refers to any kind of absense for medical reasons, not just vomiting.

okydokethen · 04/02/2025 11:37

Ahh I like saying poorly! I don't know why. Sick to me means vomit.

Annoyingsquirrels · 04/02/2025 11:36

I prefer peely-wally

ruethewhirl · 04/02/2025 11:36

GabriellaMontez · 04/02/2025 11:34

This term is very well used in hospitals.

Get over it.

But why? I've never understood it. It's a baby word.

People are allowed to dislike specific words and to say so, btw.

Negroany · 04/02/2025 11:36

I hate it. Also, I was trustee of a charity, and if someone couldn't come to a meeting due to illness, the chair would say they were "poorly-sick" which made me feel sick!

GabriellaMontez · 04/02/2025 11:34

This term is very well used in hospitals.

Get over it.