What is this "wee" word i see everywhere

[meditereb]

What does it mean ? Why is used for everything ?

It's used in Northern Ireland to soften a command. You'll be asked to take a wee seat - the seat will of course be normal sized!😁

Depending on context it could mean young, small, as a term of endearment or positive feeling, of course if someone asks “do you think you are over reacting a wee bit” they mean to convey that you are massively over reacting and you should calm the fuck down

IV heard it used on American sitcoms before.

I think you should change your user name to weejobbie just for today?

@ThumbWitchesAbroad A 'wee scone' is an affectionate term where I live. You might say it if if a child is looking unwell and sorry for themselves. 'Oh look at him, the wee scone'.

Isn't it spelled as wean and not wain?

It's extra fun/confusing to outsiders when Wee Jim, for example, is 6ft2, and Big Jim, who is of an older generation, is 5ft7

I've been caught out with that. I eventually met Big Jim at a wedding and nearly fell over. It turned out Big Jim was an older cousin of Wee Jim

Op just in case it's been missed you can also get a Big Wein, although I always thought wein was spelt wean however I'll stand corrected

May I just thank everyone on this thread for making me laugh? I’m stuck at home alone, ill with Covid 19 for a week now, and it’s so good to find something funny.
I’m English but have lived in Scotland for over 40 years, and remember trying to understand Dundonian when I first arrived as a new medical student. My first patient had a “dry boak” and a “sair thrapple”, and I was perplexed!

I hadn’t thought of when it’s used to insult people, calling them a wee (insert insult) adds an extra layer of malice!

It is wean, definitely (said in Glaswegian pronunciation : ie definettly)

Does anyone want to have a wee break out conversation about the difference between

ho, Big man!
and
ho, wee man!

?

Spats cross posted I'd have spelt it wean

It's used in Northern Ireland to soften a command. You'll be asked to take a wee seat - the seat will of course be normal sized!

Good point.
Asking someone - maybe a child to "wait a wee minute" is a gentler way of asking them to "wait a minute", it infers a softer, more tender way of asking.

How are you doing, Babdoc? Symptoms getting any better?

Isn't it spelled as wean and not wain?

Wee one = wee ane = wean = wain

I think the east say wean and the further west you go it's wain.

Loved hearing this expression when I lived in Scotland, but hearing people with an English accent use it makes me cringe.

Seven pages in and yet..........

No one has has asked us to grapple with.......

..... wee streamie

Babdoc

*Technically, they are tubers•

James (English) in Derry Girls has a wee rant about wee being used to describe things that are “not even that small”

As in 'the wain's just had a wee streamie'

babdoc, so sorry you have the Wee Virus. I had it, too, a wee while ago. I feel a wee bit better now but I guess all of us just need to accept we won't be going anywhere exciting for a good wee while. Make sure you have some wee water there, and try to eat a wee bit.

Scotland can get tae fuck with cultural appropriation!
They blatantly stole Aye from innocent Yorkshire folk.
Then his behind their wee wall.

I'm in Glasgow. I've personally only seen Wean. There used to be a kids clothing shop called Wean's World.Or is it still around? I think there's a softplay somewhere with the same name.

Overunder I love the poem. I teach it to first years all the time together with Black Friday. Magic.

Pug wee man/ big man would depend on many things:
.How much you regard/ disregard the person

.Their age

. Their height (eg The Glasgow wee man)

.Their attitude - the more offensive the 'wee-er' they become.

.The scarier they are.

I think this thread is a result of no school and bored children...