What is this "wee" word i see everywhere

[meditereb]

What does it mean ? Why is used for everything ?

In Scotland we use it for small and also jokingly/sarcastically as big - you can tell by the time - so you'll hear it a lot

Why are some posters surprised, shocked even that not everyone on MN is from the UK?
This board also attracts a majority from England (most foreigners will live in England) so the word ‘wee’, to a foreigner isn’t going to be encountered in everyday life.

No such thing during the current situation, surely

Eyes up the Baileys...

It’s Doric for small isn’t it?

It's also very common in NZ, or at least the part where I grew up. Which also had a heavy Scottish community of settlers. Never knew it was strange in England until I moved over!

At one point one of the characters was so incensed by the constant use of the word ‘wee’ she burst out ‘I don’t have a WEE passport, I have a perfectly normal size passport!’

I think James (the wee English fella) has a similar outburst in Derry Girls.

Why are some posters surprised, shocked even that not everyone on MN is from the UK?

My old boss in Cyprus used 'wee' all the time. He'd had several Scottish staff

I thought you meant as in pee, piss or urine or the twee passing water.

MIL uses wee for things she approves of - wee cups of tea and wee buns. Anything bad is oul, as in someone being a bad oul rip or bad oul bugger.
In Belfast my kids play the wee game - how many times will a shop assistant say wee?

Why are some people such twats just because they're hiding behind an anonymous name?
OP only asked a question.
I'm not Scottish so never use it, but it means little/small.

In Northern Ireland we use wee as a word that can pretty much go before any noun or verb.
The wee thing doesn't even have to be small.

My old boss in Cyprus used 'wee' all the time. He'd had several Scottish staff

There’s a clue to the riddle somewhere in that .

I use it all the time in speech but rarely in writing, not sure why.

She didn't GET (no matter how much it was explained to her,) that it's REGIONAL DIALECT.

Part of this is that other countries have much less rich regional variation than the U.K. I’m not sure why.

We use it in Northern Ireland. All the time. Even for things that aren't small. It's just how we talk.

The wee thing doesn't even have to be small.

It’s mind blowing.

Have a wee

Little.

Very over-used in Northern Ireland. Go to the hairdressers, for instance - can I take your wee coat, lean your wee shoulders back, would you like a wee bit of conditioner, can I get you a wee coffee, you want a wee bit more off your fringe - you are right to resist 'wee'. It is a pestilence when it gets established.

My dad is still Wee HisName to older siblings despite being in his 70s.

@MockersxxxxxxxSocialDistancing lots of Scottish people also use bairn - wain typically used in the Glasgow area certainly not further north.

Why are some posters surprised, shocked even that not everyone on MN is from the UK

If the OP is asking a question about language wouldn't it be sensible to mention if she is not in the UK or English is not her first language?

Anyone who has spent any time at all in the UK will be aware of the significant variations in regional language and surely come across people from most areas due to television and people moving around.

You'd have to have spent your entire life under a rock with no access to any sort of media to have never come across a Scottish or Northern Irish person many of whom routinely use the word wee to signify little/small.

I think you need a wee lie down OP.

In fairness I have had to explain this word to people who don’t have English as a first language. Perhaps that applies to OP?