English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I'm looking for a synonym for soft, as in the opposite of coarse or crass. The context is a young French woman in Nazi Germany who asks a shopkeeper for something to catch a mouse in her house. The German shopkeeper says "Oh, you French people are so soft, just say that you're looking for something to kill the mouse with."
Any suggestions? What other words would work here?
How about delicate? Mealy-mouthed (from @Josh61 's answer) conveys what you want more precisely, but delicate has that soft negative connotation.
fragile; easily damaged; frail. From dictionary.com
An alternative if you don't like delicate could be squeamish:
easily nauseated or disgusted. From dictionary.com
"tender" has the connotation of being gentle and soft.
"Oh, you French people are so tender, just say that you're looking for something to kill the mouse with."
- tender (adj) marked by, responding to, or expressing the softer emotions, showing care.
One of the senses of precious may work:
- Affectedly dainty or overrefined: precious mannerisms.
{AHDEL}
though this obviously covers an affected attitude.
If the person is genuinely soft, the dialect term nesh would often be used conversationally in the UK:
nesh adjective
dialect
(Especially of a person) weak and delicate; feeble
{ODO}
I think mealy-mouthed may fit in your context:
- Afraid to speak frankly or straightforwardly: mealy-mouthed excuses. (ODO)
sentimental:
having or arousing feelings of tenderness, sadness or nostalgia, typically in an exaggerated or self-indulgent way (Defn. 1.1)
[Source:ODO]
weakly emotional; mawkishly susceptible or tender (Defn. 3)
[Source: Dictionary.com]
Dainty and Prissy come to mind.
Weak, Babies, Cowards would also definitely fit. Cowards would have historical context as the general view of the French by Germans of that time period. These of course are more straight insults instead of just implied ones.
Pussyfooted would also fit, though I am unsure how insulting this is historically.
MW: pussyfoot verb pussy·foot \ˈpu̇-sē-ˌfu̇t\
to avoid making a definite decision or stating a definite opinion because of fear, doubt, etc.
Finally minced as in mince words (mincing?)
Dictionary.com: mince [mins] verb
2. to soften, moderate, or weaken (one's words), especially for the sake of decorum or courtesy.
3. to perform or utter with affected elegance.
5. to walk or move with short, affectedly dainty steps.
6. Archaic. to act or speak with affected elegance.
cowards as particularly appropriate and poetic within a Nazi-occupied France context, if you wish to emphasize this underlying point.
Aug 25, 2015 at 16:47
I think squeamish is the adjective you're looking for, as in: "Oh, you French people are so squeamish, just say that you're looking for something to kill the mouse with."
Now whether or not there's a German word for squeamish might create a problem, but if you're writing in English, you'll get your point across appropriately.
If it were a loutish American shopkeeper, he might say: "Oh, you French people are such pussies, just say that you're looking for something to kill the mouse with."
Not sure if these are what you are looking for but "Limp", and "Shush" are what popped into my mind after first reading? :)
If the speaker wants to imply that the listener is overly docile and caring. Perhaps verging towards being "girly" and cowardly then the noun sissy could well work.
Oh, you French people are sissies, just say that you're looking for something to kill the mouse with.
The fact that the German shopkeeper is saying this to a young French woman would make it, in my view, slightly less insulting than if the receiver were a male adult.
The Germans occupied France between 1940 and 1944, so it's important to use a derogatory term that would have been widely known and understood in that period. The abbreviation for sister, sis (n), was first recorded in the 1650s. From 1887 it became a derogatory expression, and as an adjective, sissy first appeared in print in 1891.
How about "effete"? It's not an exact synonym for soft, but it strongly suggests weakness and irresoluteness. Probably more suited when addressing a male though, since one of the connotations is effeminacy.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effete
effete
adjective ef·fete \e-ˈfēt, i-\
lacking strength, courage, or spirit
resembling a woman
From Oxford Dictionaries Online:
informal , dated
Weak and compliant: ‘they just talk that way to make you turn milky’
"Refined" or "genteel" would work.
"Genteel: Characterized by exaggerated or affected politeness, refinement, or respectability". http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/genteel. Originally "genteel" was used in a good sense, but in the 20th century it became ironic or deprecating.
Or, the German could use the French equivalent "gentil", which a non-French-speaking reader would probably understand.
Or, use the German "kultiviert." It sounds about right for a Nazi talking to the enemy, and non-German speakers would probably guess "cultivated" as a translation.
Why are you looking for a "soft" way for a person to tell people to not talk in "soft" ways? The shopkeeper may be telling the person to not talk "softly", but he's sure not fitting the part himself. Let the crude-ass shopkeeper be a crude-ass shopkeeper and call the person a pussy.
"Oh, you French people are such pussies, just say that you're looking for something to kill the mouse with."
Now his speech fits with how he's telling the other person to be. If "pussies" is a bit too much for you I guess you could go halfway with "pansies".
My spouse, who is German, offered Weichei (soft-boiled egg). (Note, if you don't speak German, it might look a little less weird if we pretend there's a hyphen: Weich-ei. Literally, soft egg.)
I also looked at the all-English thesaurus for synonyms for wimp. I've picked out some words that I am hopeful are authentic for that time period (but I can't swear to it):
milksop "effeminate spiritless man," late 14c.; literal sense "piece of bread soaked in milk" attested late 15c. Perhaps this is too gendered.
namby-pamby "weakly sentimental, insipidly pretty," 1745.
cream puff In figurative sense of "weakling, sissy," it is recorded from 1935.
sissy Meaning "effeminate man" is recorded from 1887; the adjective in this sense is from 1891.
What I like about cream puff is that it goes with French cuisine. What I don't like about it is that it doesn't seem to fit with the coarseness you're after.
-- Edit -- Added what I found at the site recommended by Mari-Lou. I also checked some dictionaries and it seems milksop is indeed too gendered, but sissy is okay.
Probably not quite negative enough, but “you […] people are so vague, just say [what you mean and mean what you say] that you're looking for something to kill the mouse with" could work.
Vague/adjective/#5: (of persons) not clear or definite in thought, understanding, or expression: (Dictionary[dot]com)
euphemism
1.
the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vagueexpression for one thought to be offensive,harsh, or blunt.
2.
the expression so substituted: “To passaway” is a euphemism for “to die.”.
I believe euphemistic works
How about flaccid:
flac·cid
lacking force or effectiveness. "the flaccid leadership campaign was causing concern"
synonyms: lackluster, lifeless, listless, uninspiring, unanimated, tame, dull, vapid
"his play seemed flaccid"
'Soft' seems perfect here, but let me mention the relatively obscure/ dialect word 'nesh'.
Its main current meaning is "sensitive to cold", i.e. not sufficiently hardy to cope with the English weather.
However, it does also have a use in terms of being timid or generally weak.
It has been deemed fit to deserve its own Wikipedia page.
"Oh, you French people are so soft, just say that you're looking for something to kill the mouse with."
My favourite word here would be mushy.
Definition of mushy in English:
adjective (mushier, mushiest)1 Soft and pulpy:
'mushy vegetables'2 informal Excessively sentimental:
'a mushy film'
'Unfortunately, it seems as if he has a compulsion to negate those brilliant pieces by introducing ill advised mushy sentimentality.'
Reference:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/mushy
Although it is not a direct synonym, the work pathetic would work quite well in that instance. It implies a deep level of disdain, which it looks like you are trying to convey in your sentence.
