Re: Neologism may get confusing sometimes...

| -----Original Message-----
| From: Peter Collier
| Subject: 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.
| |                                                 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
| herefore be taken to be slightly ironic.
| Peter

        I'm not aware of a term like this in the US, either.
        One sometimes hears the word "faddish" (of a "fad", passing trend).
The use of that term, at least in the South, seems to be racially split.
Among white speakers, it is uncommon. It is *slightly* derogatory. It refers
to something that is in fashion but will probably pass quickly, so it's not
worth much notice. Among black speakers, it looses most of the (little)
derogatory meaning it has. It refers to someone who is trendy and up with
current fashions, though "stylish" means you didn't just buy the outfit, you
make it look good.
        In both contexts, as Peter said, it's not as nice as "fashionable",
but it's not bad. I guess it would be a little below "stylish", which is a
little below "fashionable".

        The only sarcastic words I know would be blatant insults:
fashion-slave, clothes-horse, shallow, etc. The only sarcasm I could think
of would be to say something like, "Wow, he *actually* made it look
*good*!".