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Pedants' corner

‘Sketchy’ used in the sense of feeling uncomfortable or wary?

29 replies

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 27/01/2022 20:06

As seen elsewhere on MN, when the poster evidently meant that she feels iffy or uncomfortable about something, or that there’s something to be wary of.

I’ve always connected ‘sketchy’ with e.g.insufficient/very brief information, or a bare description.
Is the other a common usage now ?

OP posts:

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BullfinchJanuary · 27/01/2022 20:07

Yes something my young adult child uses as slang where I would have used dodgy.

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aramox1 · 27/01/2022 20:08

Yes , sketchy area etc.

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waterlego · 27/01/2022 20:09

Interesting. I would use sketchy as you use it, but I would also use it to describe behaviour that seems dodgy or suspicious, so emphasis on other person’s behaviour rather than my own feelings about something to be wary of. ‘He seems a bit sketchy’ rather than ‘I feel a bit sketchy about this’. Is that how you have seen it used on here?

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waterlego · 27/01/2022 20:13

As @BullfinchJanuary says, the youngest seem to be using it to mean dodgy, but I don’t think that’s new. I’m sure I remember that usage in the 90s where I am (South East).

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waterlego · 27/01/2022 20:13

*youngsters, that should say.

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MajesticWhine · 27/01/2022 20:15

DD aged 11 uses it about a teacher she doesn't like, or someone being untrustworthy. eg "I don't know if Chloe's coming she's a bit sketchy"

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BullfinchJanuary · 27/01/2022 20:15

I'm further north and have been hearing sketchy for a while though I don't think as far back as 90s.

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lottiegarbanzo · 27/01/2022 20:16

I recognise both meanings and see the second as American. What would the British equivalent be? Dodgy I think. Though dodgy seems more definite, sketchy more uncertain - conveying that area is uncertain, they are unsure of it, as much as it being known to be bad.

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ShadowPuppets · 27/01/2022 20:16

I’m 32 and I’d refer to a sketchy part of town or a sketchy person. I’m not a great user of slang, I’d say it’s in common use. I would also use ‘sketchy’ to mean scant in the context of information, though. Sketchy details, sketchy intelligence.

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lottiegarbanzo · 27/01/2022 20:17

I guess going back in time, we might have said 'it seems rather queer'. Probably wouldn't now!

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marqueses · 27/01/2022 20:20

I'd say it can be used with either meaning - not very detailed or a bit dodgy but I don't think the second one is anything new, I've always known that use of the word

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Blueberrycreampie · 27/01/2022 20:20

1.
not thorough or detailed.
"the information they had was sketchy"

INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
dishonest or disreputable

I have always used it to mean the first example.

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ABitOfAShitShow · 27/01/2022 20:22

@BullfinchJanuary

Yes something my young adult child uses as slang where I would have used dodgy.

Yep - I rarely use it but if I did, it would be this (legacy vocabulary from my youth!)

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Cam2020 · 27/01/2022 20:22

As @BullfinchJanuary says, the youngest seem to be using it to mean dodgy, but I don’t think that’s new. I’m sure I remember that usage in the 90s where I am (South East).

Me too. Also SE and it was definitely used in that context in the 90s as well as the OP's. Perhaps derived from court room sketches?

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ABitOfAShitShow · 27/01/2022 20:24

I’m from Newcastle, if that helps. And was a teen in the 90s.

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Lougle · 27/01/2022 20:25

Someone I know used it to reference someone being sly/less than transparent with someone.

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BullfinchJanuary · 27/01/2022 20:26

Now I was in my twenties and in the workplace with older people so I missed the emergence of sketchy!

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MeredithGreyishblue · 27/01/2022 20:27

To me it only means vague. As in sketched not drawn properly.

I've never used it to mean dodgy.

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ShadowPuppets · 27/01/2022 20:36

Thinking about it more it rather generally means ‘untrustworthy’, doesn’t it?

Sketchy information = information you can’t trust
Sketchy individual = an individual you can’t trust

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HootOwl · 27/01/2022 22:38

@waterlego

As *@BullfinchJanuary* says, the youngest seem to be using it to mean dodgy, but I don’t think that’s new. I’m sure I remember that usage in the 90s where I am (South East).

I remember this, too. It was common usage in the early 1990s.

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Legomania · 27/01/2022 22:43

I grew up in 1990s SE and it was 'dodgy' all the way where I was! Only picked up sketchy from an American friend in the 2000s

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ABitOfAShitShow · 27/01/2022 23:10

@MeredithGreyishblue

To me it only means vague. As in sketched not drawn properly.

I've never used it to mean dodgy.

I guess they’re the same thing though - it’s sketchy because you’re not getting the full picture!

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ABitOfAShitShow · 27/01/2022 23:11

@ShadowPuppets

Thinking about it more it rather generally means ‘untrustworthy’, doesn’t it?

Sketchy information = information you can’t trust
Sketchy individual = an individual you can’t trust

I’ve just said something along the same lines so this totally makes sense to me.

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Changechangychange · 27/01/2022 23:17

Definitely used it in the 90s. It’s a bit sketch getting in an unlicensed minicab. Where’s Kate gone, that guy she was talking to looked well sketch. Jamie had this completely sketchy plan to try to climb over the back fence. Etc.

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BullfinchJanuary · 28/01/2022 11:03

Trying to think how my mum would describe such a concept. She uses dodgy as she's sent too much time with her kids.
"Weird" combined with a look of distrust is all I can think of!

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