# What do you think of when you hear this word? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 15, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073 "2009-07-15T02:01:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/41 "2009-07-15T14:18:02Z")
I guess I’m an outlier. I took it to mean someone who is unreliable, pretends to be someone who they are not. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/42 "2009-07-15T14:31:33Z")
A slender effeminate guy with a limp wrist. Used to insinuate homosexuality or at least “non-manliness.” ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/43 "2009-07-15T14:38:44Z")
Ditzy, in an annoying way. As **Rubystreak** says, “giddy and otherworldly,” but usually consciously so. Can be male or female; if male, has the addition of effiminance. Like Edward Scissorhands. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/44 "2009-07-15T14:41:38Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Ditzy, in an annoying way. As **Rubystreak** says, “giddy and otherworldly,” but usually consciously so. Can be male or female; if male, has the addition of effiminance. Like Edward Scissorhands. Oh yes, never saw that movie but many Depp characters would fit that adjective (both effeminate and affectedly strange.) ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/45 "2009-07-15T15:55:00Z")
“Gay,” if used by a modern speaker/writer. “Crazy, mad, willful, rash,” if used by an older writer. I think of Tolkien writing something about how one of the Elves, or Turin, maybe, was “seized by a fey mood” and went and did something rash and crazy, like storming Morgoth’s fortress alone or killing someone who insulted them but didn’t deserve death, etc. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/46 "2009-07-15T15:57:46Z")
Without looking at others’ answers… When applied to a man, feminine, “gay”, wussy. When applied to fantasy literature, elfin. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/47 "2009-07-15T16:17:46Z")
I’ve got an uncle that our family sometimes describes that way. He’s thin, a little bit effeminate in an old school dandy sort of way, and can spin a good yarn. Also, he’s been known to caper. Let me put it this way: people are frequently surprised that he has a wife and two kids. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/48 "2009-07-15T16:25:19Z")
my first thought was of a limp wrist. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/49 "2009-07-15T16:38:32Z")
I always heard it used as ‘having a sixth sense’ or in my family – the ones that see dead people. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/50 "2009-07-15T16:45:44Z")
Having recently seen Legally Blonde, the musical, I first thought of gay: > [@](#): > > That is the elephant in the room. > Well is it relevant to assume > that a man who wears perfume > is automatically radically fey? But I usually think of it as described above so well - like about half of Johnny Depp’s roles - not only effeminate, nor homosexual as such, but a bit like that, with a lot of strangeness mixed in. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/51 "2009-07-15T17:12:06Z")
And while we’re at it, Michael Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/52 "2009-07-15T17:23:29Z")
Skinny and pale, mildly uncomfortable to be around. I used “fey” to describe [Dylan Baker](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0048414/) once in a movie review. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/53 "2009-07-15T17:26:04Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Skinny and pale, mildly uncomfortable to be around. > > I used “fey” to describe [Dylan Baker](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0048414/) once in a movie review. Yep, **SigmaGirl** , definitely sounds very much like Michael Jackson or Edward Scissorhands. I never really knew what fey meant. I mean, I knew it meant fairy-like or ethereal but not to the point where I could use it to describe someone. Those will stick in my mental rolodex. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/54 "2009-07-15T17:47:13Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > _Without_ looking at a dictionary, what comes to mind when you hear the adjective “fey” (e.g., as a description of a person)? > > [The reason for my curiosity and thus the poll will be revealed later] Without looking: wild, unpredictable, violently moody, out of one’s right mind, the joy a man mad with despair when he has decided to kill himself, and destroy everything he has loved. I love this word. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/55 "2009-07-16T00:12:22Z")
Reading nothing other than the OP, to me it means fairies and the seelie court, that kind of jazz. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/56 "2009-07-16T00:14:36Z")
Happy and bright but with a darker side. Like sunlight just before the sun goes behind a cloud. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/57 "2009-07-16T00:47:20Z")
Pretentiously fairy-like. Someone who is intentionally, and a at least a bit obnoxiously, trying to make other people think of them as unearthly. A person who has probably written fanfic and their Mary Sue was an elf. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/58 "2009-07-16T01:32:03Z")
I don’t know about you but I’m ready for the OP to return to tell us why s/he was asking…? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/59 "2009-07-16T01:50:38Z")
I agree. It’s about damn time! I had been watching a celebrity on some TV interview, and suddenly, into my head, popped the thought “Jesus, he’s so _fey_!”, with a meaning like dainty and effeminate, in a sort of overly affected way. But it was suddenly followed by “Wait, is that actually the right word? ‘Fey’? I’d better go look it up”. And trying [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fey) and [the OED](http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50084179?query_type=word&queryword=fey&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha) and so forth, I could get nothing that mentioned anything about “effeminate”, just a bunch of stuff about being fated to die or unduly optimistic or generically weird and so forth; the closest I got to the meaning I had in mind was on [m-w.com](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fey), with the third definition “3 a: excessively refined, precious b: quaintly unconventional : campy”. So then I was at least glad my use had been somewhat close to an existent use of the term, but surprised at how apparently obscure this sense was, and went running to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fey) to see if it could perhaps shed some light. And there, as one among many items on the disambiguation page, I finally found the cite “Fey, a term in gay slang meaning ‘effeminate’”. “Oh!”, I thought. “Gay slang? Really? I wonder where I picked that up. Perhaps I just heard it once from someone, perhaps it’s filtered into mainstream currency, or perhaps the page is simply mistaken about its origins. Well, I might as well take a poll”. And, hence, this. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073/60 "2009-07-16T01:55:37Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > _Without_ looking at a dictionary, what comes to mind when you hear the adjective “fey” (e.g., as a description of a person)? > > [The reason for my curiosity and thus the poll will be revealed later] I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used to describe a person. When I hear the word, I think of elves and fairies and the like (i.e. fey-folk). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-when-you-hear-this-word/503073.md?page=4)