To laugh when people describe themselves as "cross"?

[mangoespadrille]

I don't know why, but I always find it really funny. It makes me imagine an uptight, repressed middle class woman in twinset and pearls who cannot allow herself to express emotions properly. If you're angry, get angry! Say that you're pissed off, furious, enraged...cross is such a wet lettuce word.

dementedma - I used the word "yummy" on a thread a few days ago! To me, it conveys a particular enthusiasm and straightforward appreciation of something when the subject is not particularly serious!

Must be a regional thing. I hear 'cross' a lot here, I use it myself as I don't tend to get 'angry'. Cannot recall ever hearing 'vexed' used, I wouldn't even know how to to be honest! I thought its meaning was more 'confused' than 'angry' - ooops!

I do cross. I very very rarely if ever lose my temper and have only raised my voice at work twice in 14 years. I dont sulk or strop or hold a grudge. But I do cross quite well- people know that I am annoyed without the need to tell them or to make a big deal. After I have been 'cross' I move on quickly.

I dont think vexed and cross are the same.

I think that is the situation, *Miss Duke". There are some areas of the country where "cross" is still a proper "working" word - a normal, unremarkable part of people's vocabulary used to express a particular shade of annoyance. In other areas, it has slipped into obsolescence and is now regarded as quirkly, old-fashioned and slightly comic.

But I don't think the OP meant the thread to become a discussion about the value of the word itself. I think she meant that "cross" was often used wrongly, in terms of meaning - as when this mild word is used to describe the OP's reaction to extreme situations such as having 14 affairs, gambling away the mortgage payment, letting the DC play with a chainsaw etc when a more forceful, spirited reaction would surely be felt.

*quirky

Perhaps you are thinking of 'perplexed' MissDuke which does mean confused and could be confused with 'vexed'?