4

Is there a single word with the meaning of convivial, jovial but in a way which is not pleasant to others? The important part of the meaning should also be obtrusively "friendly".

Like people who bother you with their conviviality, who keep offering you drinks to share their merriness, throw their stupid jokes on you constantly not seeing that they are the only ones who find them funny, slap you "friendly" on the back etc.

I want to emphasize rather the unpleasant bothering friendliness and conviviality, than the noise.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jovial:

jovial markedly good-humored especially as evidenced by cheerfulness and conviviality, jolly

a jovial host, a jovial welcome

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/convivial:

convivial relating to, occupied with, or fond of feasting, drinking, and good company

a convivial host, a convivial gathering

I do not mean malicious like in Word for someone who is jovial, but malicious?

A sample sentence would be something like

"I do not like him, he is such a xxx person"

7
  • 2
    boisterous? " a) noisily turbulent : rowdy b) marked by or expressive of exuberance and high spirits" Jun 15, 2018 at 10:36
  • @OliverMason Boisterous seems to be related rather to the noise the man makes. I want to emphasize rather the unpleasant friendliness and conviviality, than the noise. Jun 15, 2018 at 10:44
  • It would be boisterous behaviour; the noise is more a side-effect. Jun 15, 2018 at 10:50
  • A single word to combine the meaning of two words is a tall order. Your sample sentence please.
    – lbf
    Jun 15, 2018 at 11:46
  • 1
    @lbf I don't like your edit, it is really way too trivial, not adding any value. Jun 18, 2018 at 11:54

6 Answers 6

1

I agree that "boisterous" first makes me think of the noise level.

Maybe "exuberant" or "overexuberant" would work?

MW definition of "exuberant" = "joyously unrestrained and enthusiastic"

Source:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exuberant

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overexuberant

This sounds (to me) that the word focuses on the energy level/enthusiasm, and that it is a bit over the top but not necessarily interpreted as negative.

1

I think the term you are looking for is hail-fellow-well-met. It's somewhat old-fashioned, but not obsolete, and means pretty much exactly what you want. From MacMillan Dictionaries:

behaving in a very friendly way that is annoying or does not seem sincere

There's also an entry on the term in the blog associated with that dictionary, which goes into more detail about nuance.

A few examples:

Most courtesies are unpretentious and respectful of people of all stripes. A subset of courtesy is knowing the manner in which it's proffered. A "hail fellow well met" approach may well be very tasteless in another instance.
Edward Atkins, On Which We Serve, 2011

UKIP’s leader, the boundlessly affable Nigel Farage, went to P. G. Wodehouse’s old high school, Dulwich College, and to a sneering metropolitan press, Farage’s party is a déclassé Wodehousean touring company mired in an elysian England that never was, populated only by golf-club duffers, halfwit toffs, rustic simpletons, and hail-fellow-well-met bores from the snug of the village pub.
Mark Steyn, "UKIP Shakes Up Westminster", National Review, May 30, 2013

Cherabino and him got caught up in some kind of hail-fellow-well-met conversation, and I lost interest.
Alex Hughes, Rabbit Trick, 2014 (excerpted on author's homepage)

Some caveats: Because this phrase is rather old-fashioned and not super common, it won't be understood by everyone—and it has always occasionally been used purely as a synonym for "loudly friendly" without the "annoyingly" rider—so depending on your audience, your criticism might not be fully appreciated.

Also, as the examples suggest, there's not full agreement on whether the phrase should be hyphenated or put in quotation marks. I'm fairly certain I've also seen examples that used both, and examples that used neither. Scare quotes might be good if you don't expect your audience to be familiar with the phrase; otherwise, I think the hyphenated version is most common.

With all that in mind, you could use the phrase something like this to convey your intention:

"I do not like him, he is such a hail-fellow-well-met person"

or

"I do not like him, he is so hail-fellow-well-met all the time"

1
  • very good ... as I commented earlier: an unreasonable request: one word!
    – lbf
    Jun 15, 2018 at 20:40
0

I agree with Oliver Mason.
Boisterous

Vocabulary.com Boisterous is a word used to describe someone spirited, loud, and slightly out of control — like someone with a spring in their step and a song in their heart singing to strangers on the street. Boisterous means "loud, clamorous, and unrestrained."

1
  • The examples “boisterous practical jokes”, “a boisterous crowd”, “boisterous winds and waves” from your link don't match very well what I want to emphasize. Neither the examples in Merriam merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boisterous. Neither the definition in OED en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/boisterous. I want to express that their jolly "friendliness" is obtrusive. Please see my edit, sorry for not being clear before. Your answer has helped me to realize what exactly I meant from the very beginning :) Jun 15, 2018 at 11:15
0

I've met people like those described by the OP. It wasn't their friendliness that bothered me but that they showed it in inappropriate ways. I would use boorish or boor

I do not like him. He is such a boor.

or

I do not like him, he is so boorish

-2

sar·cas·tic [särˈkastik]

ADJECTIVE - marked by or given to using irony in order to mock or convey contempt.

ridicule [ˈri-də-ˌkyül]

NOUN - The subjection of someone or something to contemptuous and dismissive language or behaviour.

When you ridicule someone, you mock or make fun of them. They become the object of your ridicule or mockery.

-2

Ok, what about Rambunctious?

vocabulary.com "noisy and out of control," like a rambunctious child who is so hard to handle that no babysitter has ever come back a second time. People who are rambunctious, pronounced "ram-BUNK-shus," can be fun — to a point. Laughing a little too loudly, or too often, seems refreshing at first — so what if people sitting at other tables have started to look over? But after a while, rambunctious behavior makes you feel tired. You never know when the high energy of the rambunctious is going to cross over to obnoxiousness, when things will spill, feelings get hurt, and apologizes need to be made.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.