…and hoping that the pub is seedy too!
Oi, blimey!
There’s no accounting for tastes, of course, but to me it implies someone verging on the pustular.
Cor!!
I’m an English pensioner and my first impressions on hearing those phrases would be:
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‘Bob is very seedy’ … I visualise Bob as wearing shabby clothing, generally scruffy and giving a poor impression
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‘big girl’s blouse’ … regularly used by a Liverpool friend to mean weak and scared on things
Other meanings are available…
It sounds like the exact opposite. A “Big Woman[Girl]'s Blouse” is a weak, scared, snivelly person. Putting on your “Big Boy Pants” means you’re going to stop acting scared and behave like a grownup. It’s the same old trope of Women=weak, Man=strong.
See this scene from Blackadder
Thanks for all the answers everyone. As I said, seedy to me means run down, sleazy. The Aqualung picture is right on. I had never heard the “unwell” use before. Once I figured out what it meant in context, I looked it up and it’s listed as archaic, so I’m somewhat surprised that some people immediately got the sick definition.
For those of you who have heard or used the sick definition, any chance you are all over 100 years old? 
I read the big woman’s blouse in a Danish mystery novel but it really lacked any context and I wondered if it was a bad translation. IIRC, a police detective refers to his boss as a big woman’s blouse, so I assumed it was a Danish saying, I didn’t know it was so widespread. Strangely, the definition doesn’t fit the boss, as he was a thrill seeker type who did ride alongs and chased down suspects.
Now I wonder if maybe Danes use a different phrase and big woman’s blouse was just a translation. Maybe I still need to find a Denmarkian to settle the matter.
I’m aware of the meaning and I’m probably one of the youngest British posters on the board- but I do like old books and archaic slang. I don’t think I’ve ever actually said it or heard it, just read it.
As a big woman, I say please, kill the phrase. This phrase is aimed at men who are reluctant to take a risk, implying that the are womanish. It’s very poor taste, the type of phrase used by, ahem, sexist asshats.
Back to “Seedy”, I grew up with a childhood friend named that. It wasn’t until high school that he mentioned that his real first name was Carleton.
Someone else from the old neighborhood asked what his middle name was. “Uhh, Drake… why?”
“Wait, so your initials are C.D., right? And your nickname…”
“Yeah, all my life. Haha, so none of you ever knew it was for Carleton Drake, did you?”
“Umm, dude, none of us knew it was C period, D period.”
"But you’ve been calling me that all my… [we all nod and just look around at each other] … so, ‘Seedy’? Okay, that’s weird…"
Actually, I think each has a slightly different backstory.
“Big boy pants” are constrasted with nappies or trainer pants. When you are successfully and reliably toilet-trained, you can wear big boy pants, which is a cause for celebration/congratulation. (Pants, it should be noted, are underwear, not trousers.) Hence “put on your big boy pants” is an encouragement to meet a challenge in a grown-up way. If you’re female, obviously, “big girl pants”, with exactly the same connotations, and I have heard this expression. I’ve also seen “big person pants” used in situations where gender was unspecified.
A girl’s blouse - frills, ruffles, and general frivolity - is contrasted with a boy’s shirt - collar, cuffs, sober, masculine. Thus a “big girl’s blouse” is a woman’s blouse in a man’s size. The implication is that you’re a man, but you lack the manly virtues of courage, etc; you have weaknesses that are characteristic of women. So this is a sexist expression in a way that, I think, big boy pants isn’t.
The lyrics of “Little Old Sod Shanty” leap to mind:
I am looking rather seedy now
While holding down my claim
And my vittles are not always
Served the best
And the mice play shyly round me
As I nestle down to rest
In my little old sod shanty in the west
That is of course an old American reference. God only knows how Brits would try to translate “sod shanty” without context.
For all of you who knew the ill definition, do you actually hear or use it today or is it something your parents or grandparents say?
It is in common use in London. Soho still has plenty of seedy characters in seedy bars doing seedy deals selling sex or drugs or stolen goods. A place or person of low or disreputable character.
Another use is seedy as in you have a hangover, lack of sleep, you have not washed, feel unfit and you are generally a mess. You might say you yourself feel quite seedy. Not a reflection on character, just a measure of the poor state you are in when perhaps you have rather over done the partying. Gone to seed and in need of some work to restore and revive and get up on your feet again. I am sure we have all been there.
We don’t use the word sketchy so much, which I suspect has a similar meaning.
Yeah, I think I remember just the one time. 
Would you say, for instance, a friend was in hospital for a serious illness, looked seedy?
No, they would look ill but recovering and being cared for.
If you feel seedy, it suggests neglect, that you really haven’t been looking after yourself.
You might say that of yourself in self deprecating way and it would be clear you are feeling just a bit of a sorry mess. But to say someone else was seedy is quite an insult and an observation you would make with discretion.
Not if he was getting proper care: clean hospital gown, fluids, and help with trimming his beard. If he’s home alone with the flu, he might well be seedy looking.
That’s part of why I didn’t get the reference at first. It was two men, one of whom was asking about a friend who, unbeknownst to him was seriously ill. The second friend then described the very ill man as seedy.
So if he was dying of cancer, was emaciated, looked pale, you barely recognized him etc., not seedy as long as he’s clean and barbered?
I guess I’m trying to determine if there is a line between seedy as in seriously ill and seedy as in hung over and in what context would you understand it to mean seriously ill. Would it have to be something blunt like “Bob’s in hospital, stage four cancer, looks seedy.”?
Seediness is a state for which you are responsible because you over-did the partying. It is self neglect and it can be easily cured.
It would never be applied to someone who is really ill.