Is prissy a compliment or insult?

[curlymon]

Curious as I got into a heated discussion with a coworker about this.

[IrishBelle]

I've never heard it used as a compliment.

[blondemoment123]

Insult.

[TR]

Sept 10, 2018 17:09:11 GMT -5 IrishBelle said:

I've never heard it used as a compliment.

Ditto

[tacokick]

Insult. No question.

[katfco]

Yeah, that's never a compliment.

[flex]

It's definitely not a compliment.

[thejen626]

This seems like a good place to leave this.

One day my DH said “ugh why are you being so frumpy today?” I was so pissed and he didn’t understand why. He thought “frumpy” was like saying “grumpy” lol 😂

[VillainV]

ONED defines it as: Fussily and excessively respectable

Fussy and excessive don’t seem like compliments.

[brandy0331]

Sept 10, 2018 17:30:28 GMT -5 thejen626 said:

This seems like a good place to leave this.

One day my DH said “ugh why are you being so frumpy today?” I was so pissed and he didn’t understand why. He thought “frumpy” was like saying “grumpy” lol 😂

This is too funny.
And yeah, I have never heard prissy used in a complimentary way.

[auntie]

It's never good. I have an aunt and a sister named Priscilla. Both are flat out hellions. I swear it is a reaction to being called "Prissy" or "Miss Pris".

[sapphireblue]

I'm curious about how the heated discussion came about.

Definitely an insult!

[cleo29]

Sept 10, 2018 17:32:31 GMT -5 VillainV said:

ONED defines it as: Fussily and excessively respectable

Fussy and excessive don’t seem like compliments.

Yeah, I always took it as implying the person needs to remove the stick from their ass. And possibly girly x1000.

[ECB]

Yeah, i want to know more about the heated discussion!!

[curlymon]

Here’s the heated discussion. Male coworker refer to daughter as prissy because she doesn’t like to fish. I asked him to define prissy. He says it means when a girl is a “girly girly” and likes to dress up and play with makeup. I told him that it was insulting to a) assume certain activities are for girls and b) refer to those activities as prissy. He told me I was blowing it out of proportion and that my problem is that I get offended too easily.

[cleo29]

Sept 10, 2018 18:05:37 GMT -5 curlymon said:

Here’s the heated discussion. Male coworker refer to daughter as prissy because she doesn’t like to fish. I asked him to define prissy. He says it means when a girl is a “girly girly” and likes to dress up and play with makeup. I told him that it was insulting to a) assume certain activities are for girls and b) refer to those activities as prissy. He told me I was blowing it out of proportion and that my problem is that I get offended too easily.

Jesus, this guy doesn't know when to  quit! One insult and generalization after another.  I don't particularly love fishing and I don't think I am a "girly girl".

He sounds like an asshole.

[picksthemusic]

My grandmother would call me 'miss priss' whenever she wanted to put me in my place. It was not a compliment.

[googled]

"You get offended too easily" roughly translates to "I'm a person who is more interested in being able to say and do whatever I want than I am in considering others, so I'm an asshole."

[TBM]

It depends on how someone says it what they mean by it.

It absolutely can be said as an insult, but I think it can also be used as a description in a non negative statement of fact way.

Just because someone is a bit proper and more fastidious than I am doesn't mean that it is necessarily a bad thing....it's just their thing.

[devonpow]

It can be used to describe Delores Umbridge. So, insult.

[sawyerthedestroyer]

He's wrong.

[Gwen]

Sept 10, 2018 18:18:07 GMT -5 googled said:

"You get offended too easily" roughly translates to "I'm a person who is more interested in being able to say and do whatever I want than I am in considering others, so I'm an asshole."

YES ! And also, yes.

[4speedy]

Sept 10, 2018 18:27:14 GMT -5 TBM said:

It depends on how someone says it what they mean by it.

It absolutely can be said as an insult, but I think it can also be used as a description in a non negative statement of fact way.

Just because someone is a bit proper and more fastidious than I am doesn't mean that it is necessarily a bad thing....it's just their thing.

 yes, a person can be those things and it is not an insult.  Generally we would call them genteel.

gen·teel
jenˈtēl/
adjective
polite, refined, or respectable

but when the exact same qualities are described as “prissy,” as we can see by the nearly 100% agreement in this post, it comes with a negative connotation.

[isabel]

Sept 10, 2018 18:05:37 GMT -5 curlymon said:

Here’s the heated discussion. Male coworker refer to daughter as prissy because she doesn’t like to fish. I asked him to define prissy. He says it means when a girl is a “girly girly” and likes to dress up and play with makeup. I told him that it was insulting to a) assume certain activities are for girls and b) refer to those activities as prissy. He told me I was blowing it out of proportion and that my problem is that I get offended too easily.

My H doesn't enjoy fishing either. Does that make him prissy? What a weird fucking hill to die on. He sounds like a prick (prick is also an insult, just in case he needs clarification).

[goldengirlz]

I see “prissy” kind of like the word “bossy;” it’s one of those insidious words that’s seemingly neutral but actually used to take women down a notch.

He wouldn’t call his son “prissy.” So that should be a tell.

[HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan]

'You get offended too easily' are the words of a Trump voter, guaranteed.

[minionkevin]

Sept 10, 2018 21:39:23 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I see “prissy” kind of like the word “bossy;” it’s one of those insidious words that’s seemingly neutral but actually used to take women down a notch.

He wouldn’t call his son “prissy.” So that should be a tell.

Yes!
I called out my (mid-20-something, male) coworkers for using a similar word - sassy - to describe another (the only similarly aged female) coworker. In what universe would they use the word sassy to describe a man? Nope, not having it.

Prissy is definitely an insult.

[puppylove64]

I don’t necessarily consider prissy a bad thing for a young girl. I think it means they are girly girl and strong in their stance not to do otherwise. There is nothing wrong with a young girl making up her mind and being firm about it. I wouldn’t call a grown woman prissy because it seems like a juvenile term.

I consider my friends daughter prissy. When we hang out it is my boys and her brother and she is the only girl. I call her prissy because she doesn’t give a damn about playing what the boys play. She does what she wants. I think it is funny that she would rather play alone dancing or with dolls than what all the other kids are doing.

I guess I see how others can use it negatively, but that is me trying to give a new meaning to the word that doesn’t hold women down.

[cville]

Instead of trying to give new meaning to a plainly negative word so that it "doesn't hold women down," why not just ... select a different, already positive word that a child/her siblings/her parents/the rest of the English speaking world will not have to decipher. Like "you're so independent/decisive/confident/joyful/self-directed!"

Because we already have lots of good words.

[shauni27]

Sept 10, 2018 21:39:23 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I see “prissy” kind of like the word “bossy;” it’s one of those insidious words that’s seemingly neutral but actually used to take women down a notch.

He wouldn’t call his son “prissy.” So that should be a tell.

Or if he did it would be for sure an insult in his eyes.