Re: Neologism may get confusing sometimes...

Andreas Johansson wrote:

| I'm an unnative speaker, but it might interest you that I use "stylish" as
a
| synonyme for "fashionable", primarily in slightly ironic tone.
|
| It's a bit like "nationalism", "patriotism" and "chauvinism" - they all
mean
| much the same thing, but they signal different attitudes of the speaker
| towards the phenomenon. So, for me, "fashionable" is fairly neutral or
| slighly appreciating, whereas "stylish" signify ironic distance or a
| condescending attitude. Naturally, I use "stylish" rather more often than
| "fashionable" ...
|
| It's also a question of register - the more formal I'm being that higher
the
| chance that I use "fashionable" rather than "stylish".
|
|                                                 Andreas

Personally (speaking as someone whose L1 is British-English), I wouldn't
infer any intended irony from the use of the word 'stylish', although I
would agree with Andreas in that it is perhaps of a slightly lower register.
I'm trying to think of a word that would convey a sense of sarcasm, but I
can't think of one. 'Trendy' would suggest a fashion that was perhaps
transitory, and could perhaps therefore be taken to be slightly ironic.
However, I think in this case (for me anyway) that more would be inferred
from the tone of voice used, rather than the choice of vocubulary per se.

Peter