feisty

[MaryAnnSmotheredinchocolate]

Am sick of the over use of this word...

But doesn't 'formidable', when spoken with French accent only of course, actually also mean fantastic? Well, not literally fantastic (since we're in pedants' corner) but at least VV good?

I quite like truculent. I only use it to describe other people though.

Why don't you feisty ladies stop worrying your pretty little heads about this and come and play Desert Island Discs on chat.

If you dislike feisty, you might adopt the Galswegian term 'gallus', which can be used of men and women:

"The adjective most commonly used about its citizenry in Glasgow is gallus. There's no obvious translation. It means cheeky and jaunty and mouthy and profoundly unimpressed by rank."

yes, do me and Kirsty are having fun !

Here

I like gallus. How about "radge", midnightexpress?

oh that reminds me of Irvine Welsh...

And whilst we're talking about the overuse of certain words and phrases... is it just me, or is the seemingly constant use of the poker phrase "heads up" at every possible conversational juncture, getting on anyone elses teets? A bugbear shared is a bugbear halved

lol monkey, I was thinking of formidable with a French accent when I first posted this morning.

It deserves its own thread but I can't stand the overuse of the word immense. What does it mean?

ooh yes that's like those Meeting Bingos where you score off things like "big ask" and "baked in"

PS - "formidable", etymologically, is literally "awesome" - and in French has clearly done the same semantic morphing that awesome has in English. I do prefer the English sense - that feeling of being frowned over by a great mountain (or small boys' football team, of course).

and "reach out"

I ask you, why do people "reach out to" one & not just "contact" you? Or does contact have some suspiciously bodily nuance that is inappropriate among today's professionals?

Formidable is a much unloved grandmother, a poker-faced aunt or a mother in law who thinks you are not nearly good enough for her son. You use the word formidable to describe these women if there's money to be inherited after their passing. If the relative is poor, miserable old bag does nicely.

Formidable woman therefore means well off miserable old bag.

What does heads up mean?

To give someone the heads up is to give them advance warning of something.... or this is how it appears to be used anyway. It comes from poker when there is no more betting to be done and so the players cards are turned over for everyone to see so 'heads up' (I think?).

Swedes, can it be you?

I thought heads up was more a meerkat kinda thang.

and suspect that 'reach out' has fairly ghastly touchy-feely nuances, rather than simply making contact.

Yes, I do understand the human-courtesy-warmth sort of thingy about "reach out" - but why does an accountant need to say that's what he's doing to get me to send him a pdf of some interest rates?

(This question does not need an answer.)

Jeezum crow bink, is that true? He says he's going to reach out to you for some interest rates?
That is beyond awful.
Tell him to stop invading your conceptual space.

I believe I sort of gulped and said yes of course I could forward the details. He has not challenged my conceptual space since.

But seriously (not seriously, but you know) WOHMhood does involve one in some rather extraordinary cognitive dissonance as regards sociolect - I have to have one distinct language for rate-seeking accountants, another for headmasters, another for the children's friends ... Which culminated in completely struggling to chat to my hairdresser this evening.

"WOHMhood does involve one in some rather extraordinary cognitive dissonance as regards sociolect"

say what, Bink?

just being silly

Oh, thank god for that

oh

I am frequently referred to as feisty, it's almost a nickname. I always took it as something as a compliment.

And my grandmother was described as formidable (which she was) at her funeral. I thoroughly disagree with Swedes definition. My father says I have inherited her traits in both the French and English sense.

I was previously happy about that too...

Do not be , boudoiricca, neither term is universally dissed, honest!

My DD2 has always been a feisty young lady, and I have some formidable moments myself