# Survey - "Bully for you" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 24, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083 "2008-09-24T23:54:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/21 "2008-09-25T06:28:51Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > What do you think the phrase “Bully for you” means, both in meaning and in tone, and what is your nationality? “Good for you”, old-fashioned but otherwise sincere. I’m American. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/22 "2008-09-25T06:31:09Z")
(Reading the other replies, I agree with those who say: Of course, you can employ it sarcastically, just as you can employ “Good for you!” sarcastically, and the out-of-date wording of the phrase plays into that. Still, I wouldn’t yet say its primary meaning is in that snarky deployment. To put it another way, I don’t think the phrase itself is _that_ restricted in tone; its tone is whatever tone it’s used with.) [Hm, but the more I think about it, maybe it is restricted… I can’t bring myself to imagine saying it in any other non-contrived case but the sarcastic one. Of course, originally, those words were mundanely sincere, but I guess now, maybe they _are_ primarily snarky.] ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/23 "2008-09-25T07:20:57Z")
> [@Nikki\_Tikki\_Tavi](#): > > When I use that phrase I mean it as a sarcastic “well, whoop di doo” or “good for you”. Ditto. I know the phrase once had a non-sarcastic use, but I think the sarcastic use is now the dominant one, at least in the US. I’m also an American. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/24 "2008-09-25T13:29:58Z")
I have never heard it said without sarcasm. I of course think of TR, but I don’t think it’s been said sincerely since. I’m American. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/25 "2008-09-25T13:45:11Z")
“That’s great news for you!”, but it can be (and often is) with sarcastic intent. American ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/26 "2008-09-25T13:48:05Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Depending on the context and tone, it can mean either: > > - “well done”, in a sincerely positive sense; or > - “that’s nice, but I really don’t care” in a sarcastic sense. > > Probably more likely the latter. > > Australian Exactly what he said. It sounds very old-fashioned to me. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/27 "2008-09-25T13:52:49Z")
A direct replacement for good for you. The delivery gives the meaning you think it is good, or you’re being sarcastic. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/28 "2008-09-25T13:55:47Z")
Can’t recall any use of the word in everyday conversation or in the news, except in the phrase “bully pulpit”. I don’t really know what _that’s_ supposed to mean, either. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/29 "2008-09-25T14:40:59Z")
_Good for you_ in a sarcastic way, usually. I’ve never heard anyone use it in a sincere context. Florida, US ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/30 "2008-09-25T14:55:29Z")
I don’t recall hearing anyone use the phrase in a long time, and it’s interesting that in many places throughout the world this old-fashioned expression lives on with a mostly snarky connotation. I suppose the word “swell” has evolved similarly. While it was possible to use it earnestly from the 1920s through the 1950s, from the '60s on it fell out of fashion. Now one can hardly think of it being used without a simultaneous rolling of the eyes. Except for me. I started using “swell” sincerely sometime in the late 1980s. And if I thought of it, I might say “Bully” non sarcastically, too. I like old usages like that. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/31 "2008-09-25T15:13:54Z")
> [@Mr.Duality](#): > > Can’t recall any use of the word in everyday conversation or in the news, except in the phrase “bully pulpit”. I don’t really know what _that’s_ supposed to mean, either. My Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary (2nd Ed.) gives two definitions for the adjectival form of “bully”: 1. Dashing; gallant; as my _bully_ boy. 2. First-rate; fine [colloq.] It is in the second sense that TR spoke of the presidency as a “bully pulpit”: it’s a very good way to get people’s attention. It seems as though many people, not knowing this sense of the word, have assumed that he meant it in the more common sense of bully: “a person who hurts, frightens, threatens, or terrorizes over those who are smaller or weaker.” So much so that now you occasionally see writers using “bully pulpit” to describe a politician or other powerful person who uses bullying tactics. Obviously, such people exist and the phrase accurately describes them in a rather clever twist on the phrase’s original meaning. But many people, unaware of the colloquial usage, may confuse the two very different meanings of the phrase and read the wrong meaning into the more innocent uses. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/32 "2008-09-25T15:16:54Z")
‘Good for you.’ IME it’s usually meant sarcastically. Depends on the delivery. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/33 "2008-09-25T15:25:59Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Seconded. I’m an American from NE Ohio. > > I’m a Theodore Roosevelt fan and it always reminds me of him (and a century ago, he meant the word “Bully!” as high praise indeed). Ditto and as \*\*Marley23 \*\*mentioned Arsenic and Old Lace, it is worth adding that the reason Bully is used in the play and movie is the Uncle thinks he is Roosevelt. American from New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/34 "2008-09-25T16:11:02Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Ditto and as \*\*Marley23 \*\*mentioned Arsenic and Old Lace, it is worth adding that the reason Bully is used in the play and movie is the Uncle thinks he is Roosevelt. Yes. And I didn’t play Teddy, by the way. My dad didn’t see fit to quote any of _my_ lines. 😛 Forgot to mention it in my last post, but I’m from New York. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/35 "2008-09-25T16:26:46Z")
“Good for you” or “How _nice_ for you.” I’ve never heard it said without sarcasm, so it surprises me that some people use it sincerely. NH, US ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/36 "2008-09-25T17:14:20Z")
English “You’re clearly excited by this, but I’m not (or perhaps I think you don’t really deserve it)” Similar in usage to _Whoopee shit_. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/37 "2008-09-25T18:32:53Z")
It’s a sarcastic phrase meaning good for you but things suck on my end. Northeast US. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/38 "2008-09-25T18:41:42Z")
“Well, aren’t you feeling proud of yourself (for a not very noteworthy event.)” American, southern US if it matters. ---
**Author:** ![Fearless\_Leader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Fearless\_Leader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fearless_Leader)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/39 "2008-09-25T21:10:25Z")
I’ve always had the impression it was a sarcastic “Well good for you” or something along those lines. I’ve never heard it in real life but as a child I read it in Caddie Woodlawn. I’m American, from Ohio BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083/40 "2008-09-26T04:54:40Z")
I never knew the phrase to have a sarcastic bent, but I know it as 19th-century for “well done!” (I imagine Teddy Roosevelt and other old rich dudes would say this.) Also old rich British dudes. I’ve never heard someone use it except in a joking manner, but it still means “good for you.” Never heard it used sarcastically. American. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-bully-for-you/465083.md?page=3)