Sassy

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Sassy

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Sep 23, 2014 10:43 pm

• sassy •

Pronunciation: sæ-see • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Impudent, overly self-confident, cheeky, outspoken, and unconcerned about what others think of you. 2. Extremely flashy, as 'a sassy dress'.

Notes: The sense of today's word differs from saucy's in that the latter word can contain a sexual innuendo, as in 'saucy songs'. This word retains its reference to (hot) sauce. Sassy has lost all that and has built a new adverb, sassily, and a noun, sassiness. This word compares as sassier and sassiest.

In Play: Today's Good Word is most often used in reference to women: "Miss Deeds arrived at work with a sassy tattoo on her forearm and a prominent diamond-studded nose ring." It may also refer to inanimate objects that are flashy: "Maude Lynn Dresser wore a sassy outfit to the party: a brightly multicolored dress and no fewer than six strands of beads, some doubled."

Word History: This is a word reduction native to America, a mispronounced word whose mispronunciation took on a new meaning, like curtsy from courtesy and ornery from ordinary. Sauce was borrowed (and never returned) from Old French sauce, inherited from Latin salsa "salt food", the feminine form of the adjective salsus "salted", based on sal "salt". This word passed unchanged to Latin from PIE sal- "salt", which was kept by almost all Indo-European lanuages: Greek hals, Welsh halen, Russian sol' and, of course, English salt. The English word salad, too, is based on Vulgar Latin salata "salted", the feminine past participle of the verb salare "to salt". (Today's gratitude is owed Jeremy Busch, the sassy Grand Panjandrum of the Alpha Agora, who recommended today's Good Word.)
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Perry Lassiter
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Re: Sassy

Postby Perry Lassiter » Wed Sep 24, 2014 2:41 pm

I always assumed sassy came from sass, talking back or talking smart. Usually in reference to a kid smart-talking his parents or teachers. Refers to either male or females.

Adolescent to adult women, sassy can imply a sort of combo sexy tomboy.
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Re: Sassy

Postby Slava » Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:28 pm

As I understand it, sass is a back-formation from sassy, not the other way around.
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Re: Sassy

Postby Perry Lassiter » Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:53 pm

Why a back formation? If we imported sauce, it seems to make more sense to mispronounce it sass, as is, rather than add a Y.
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Re: Sassy

Postby Stargzer » Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:56 pm

As I understand it, sass is a back-formation from sassy, not the other way around.
You are correct according to the Online Etymology Dictionary:
sass (n.)
"impudence," 1835, back-formation from sassy. The verb is first recorded 1856, from the noun. Related: Sassed; sassing. Sass (n.) as a variant of sauce is attested from 1775.

sauce (n.)
mid-14c., from Old French sauce, sausse, from Latin salsa "things salted, salt food," noun use of fem. singular or neuter plural of adjective salsus "salted," from past participle of Old Latin sallere "to salt," from sal (genitive salis) "salt" (see salt (n.)).

Meaning "something which adds piquancy to words or actions" is recorded from c.1500; sense of "impertinence" first recorded 1835 (see saucy, and compare sass). Slang meaning "liquor" first attested 1940.
Regards//Larry

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