13.10.07

Quick thought on adjective usage...

As I was trying to nap today, I started thinking about how the British use the same words a bit differently than Americans sometimes. A really great example is the word "horny". In America, this adjective is used almost exclusively to describe one's state of mind from a sexual-desire perspective:

"I am feeling horny tonight baby. " --> Translated: I want to get laid.

"Jeff is a real horny bastard sometimes." --> Translated: Jeff always wants to get laid.

"It sucks becaus he's NEVER horny and I ALWAYS am ready to go" --> Translated: She wants to get laid, he doesn't.

In the UK they use this rough little adjective in those same sentences as well, but they've apparently derived another usage where they use "horny" to describe objects directly rather than just a person's state of mind. For example:

"That movie is horny." --> Usually used to describe porn, or sometimes ellicitly sexual scenes within a non-pornographic movie.

"I like that dress. It's horny." --> Basically means that observer thinks the the dress looks really sexy.

"That was a really horny conversation." --> Basically states that a conversation was deemed to be a turn-on.

And so forth...

I'm sure "horny" is not the only word that's switched from single-purpose to multi between our two great countries; however given the fact I'm feeling a bit horny today, it's the first one that came to my mind.

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