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Dudes/dudettes, I got a most serious question to ask here. So I was looking up on google for pictures of people with mischievous looks on their faces and was using the search term "ornery face." But I was really confused that almost all the faces that turned up were grumpy. So I went and looked up the definition. And to my great surprise, good ol' Webster decides to share:

Quote:

having an irritable disposition : cantankerous

Well build me up and call me Buttercup.

For 29 years, I have always used the word with a positive connotation to describe someone or something as mischievous or a good-spirited trickster. My grandpa, who loved teasing others and "pulling their legs" (figuratively), was often called ornery (or a "stinker") whenever doing so or tickling me and my sister in the sides. I use it to describe my cat whenever she's playing around and getting into trouble. To hear that the word actually has a negative connotation different from how I use it surprises me.

(On a side not, for a long time I mistook the "I'm so ronery" meme to be a rewrite of "I'm so ornery" instead of "I'm so lonely" and thought it was used for people in a mischievous sort of mood, but that's a different subject).

Doing a little research online, it's not just me. It's another one of those regional differences in language that I didn't realize was so. (And, yes, I often pronounce it like "awn-ree").

So, my question is, how do you use and understand the word "ornery"?

I have to say that you (and Amber) are completely wrong. It is very much a negative word. The main reference would be "ornery as a mule". Yosemite Sam is the very image of ornery. And, yes, it is pronounced with three syllables. Twisted Evil

The second, and more negative, definition is the one that I have always used. I was not even aware of the first definition.

"Ornery" makes me think of a grumpy old man. Kind of like the guy who frequently sneaks into my mirror. Shocked

Maybe this is a divide caused by the Atlantic Ocean but I've never even heard that word before.

This is a word I remember commonly used by many of my relatives. The context they use it matches the correct definition, however they all pronounce it with only 2 syllables.

Is the 2 syllable pronunciation not very common? To clarify: on-ree, like saying laundry without the L and the D.

@willag: I've afraid you've been mislead. Perhaps someone misunderstood it a few generations back? People have often said it to close relatives & significant others with an endearment tone; which can be confusing to some, especially the young, but that doesn't change the meaning or make it less insulting.

It could even been the other way around but not as likely. As "Mischievous, good-spirited trickster, playful yet troublesome, cute yet exasperating" is not the definition most people use, you'll get some odd looks if you use it that way. It doesn't matter if it once meant something else. Even if it can be academically proven and I'm not even convinced that it is.

I've also been the victim of misunderstood meanings behind words. It happens from time to time due to either ancestors or yourself misunderstanding words.

I've always pronounced it with 3 syllables but apparently I pronounce things weird. I think the 2 syllable is right though.

Ornery sounds too silly to be negative. I could care less about the original or true meaning, I'm keeping it the way I like it (though, having said that, I won't just throw such a word around to people who I haven't used it around before).

In other words, I reject your reality and replace it with my own, ya orn-ree people. Wink

@Alan45 - See, I'd agree that Yosemite Sam is ornery as well, but that's because he's a silly cartoon character that I think of affectionately.

====

Speaking of words that don't sound like their definitions... this has happened before for other words. Or maybe I'm just getting the wrong ideas from bad fanfiction where the author used the words incorrectly.

Like, every time I see the word bemused, I have to remind myself that it means confused instead of amused in order to get the right visual expression on the person's face.

Nonplussed sounds more like someone who is unimpressed, but it means bewildered (I don't hear the word often enough, so by the time I see it again I'll probably have forgotten the definition).

I couldn't think of any others off the top of my head, so I went google searching...

Hah, guess what two words showed up in this Cracked article? Seems I'm not the only one.

I think that Touma is on to something with his reference to age. When you mentioned ornery my immediate image was an old redneck type with a week's growth of whiskers and an old gun in his hand yelling "get off my land". I think the same behavior that makes an old man or a mule ornery would make a young person a jerk or asshole.

A word that bothers me because it has almost lost its original meaning is decimate. Most people use it to mean destroy. It originally meant to kill every tenth man. It was a punishment given to Roman legions that broke in battle. It comes from the Latin word for ten. According to the OED it is also used in connection with tithing.

*points at willag*

Ha ha, yer stoopid.

Do I make you ornery, baby - do I?

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