Really cross

[Hingeandbracket]

Is this a regional expression?

I keep seeing it on here and I always imagine it being said in a Southern English accent.

It sounds like a refugee from a 1950s Ealing Comedy.

MajesticWhine - thank you so much for that joke!

I'm from the NW and have always said it.

I see cross as a synonym for angry.

And there are various descriptive words which can go in front of it.

Quite angry, quite cross
Very angry, very cross
Really angry, really cross.
A little bit angry, a little bit cross.

(I'm from the East Midlands, living in the North)

I use it - brought up in East London. My DD was far more affected if I told her I was disappointed with her. Cross she could deal with. Disappointed, no.

I think cross means not quite as bad as angry and a " bit cross" is even less so.

I’m from the south and might say that - it just looks like a normal conjunction of words, not even particularly a phrase or an idiom.

Baffling take, OP

I'm from Scotland and never, ever use cross. Only one person I know uses it, my ex best friend, and when she used it, you knew you were really in trouble, she used it to mean fucking fuming but never said that.

This! I'm American. I've been here since 1995 and I can't believe the OP is asking what it means.
I am not asking what it means - read my OP again.

Admittedly, being American, I don't really say it- I have done from time to time but it's not really an expression I use. Still, I must be getting old if it's being queried. Hinge how old are you?
I am 57. It's not an expression I use or hear much outside of MN. I know what it means.
I am endlessly curious about individual words in common usage - such as the use of "grab" in the context of obtaining many things these days, that's all.

I am from the north west , near Liverpool, I would say it

I speak Welsh as a first language and live in south Wales. I would never use "cross" and neither would anyone I know, I thought it was a posh English term. Probably would use "angry" or "annoyed".

Until I was an adult and was meeting people from different backgrounds and places, I thought it only existed in the works of Enid Blyton. See also 'horrid', and people called Julian.

love this!

I'm Australian and we've always said it in my family, and at school as well. I remember teachers being cross.

Nobody was ever horrid though, except in Enid Blyton. However, I know several Julians.

Why is everyone getting so upset suddenly now!?

I'm in Scotland and wouldn't use it.

t's not an expression I use or hear much outside of MN

When your children have done something wrong - such as pissed on the toilet seat again because they can't be bothered to lift the lid up - what do you say when you are cross with them?

@SunshineCake

Forces brats, so for me I was an RAF brat, and you've got Army brats, Navy brats etc etc, is actually a positive term for us. Kind of like a weird badge of honour and term of affection. We moved so often, made friends and lost them to their moves constantly, new schools, sometimes in different countries and even middle of terms. I know I even missed a load of curriculum because of all the moves, so we harden pretty quick and hopefully find ways to deal with it.

You probably knew all that, but the term brat isn't pejorative for that sense, unlike civvy street. Hope that helps a little.

I'm Scottish and I have never used it, nor have I heard anyone else Scottish using it. I think someone said before that it was very Enid Blyton- that is spot on! When I read it, it reminds me of the Famous Five or Mallory Towers

I understand the moving, *@Mirador and in fact I moved a lot too as I was in the non care system but I don't understand why it is brat as, as you guess, it is a negative word to me.

Thank you *@Mirador.

Sounds really teacher-y

This has got to be one of my least favourite sayings in the world. It’s just such a non-emotion. I’m either annoyed, pissed off, or fine. Cross doesn’t even register to me!

Thought everyone said it.

I’ve never actually heard anyone say ‘cross’ or ‘poorly’ IRL. Only in books. They’re both Blytonesque words to me that I think of as being posh English.

I am in Scotland (not a posh bit!)

Never thought of myself as 'Posh English ' before