nancy attitude
- noun
- Slur
:
actitud marica (insulto ofensivo)
- His father disapproved of what he called a nancy attitude in his son.
Examples
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The coach warned the players not to show any sign of a nancy attitude during the game.
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Some critics accused the performer of having a nancy attitude on stage.
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His nancy attitude was criticized by his peers.
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Why does he always have that nancy attitude?
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His father disapproved of what he called a nancy attitude in his son.
-
The coach warned the players not to show any sign of a nancy attitude during the game.
-
Some critics accused the performer of having a nancy attitude on stage.
How Effeminate
Surface Forms
Morphology
nancy + attitude
If a learner knows 'nancy' as meaning effeminate or weak and 'attitude' as manner, the phrase is compositionally interpretable as 'an effeminate/weak manner' following normal modifier+noun patterns. The item is therefore transparent in form, though 'nancy' is slang/derogatory and relatively rare so many learners may not actually know the constituent.
Etymology
Nancy attitude comes from using the woman's name Nancy as a rude label for a man who seems too gentle or feminine. One popular story says people began to call a man Nancy to mean 'weak' or 'not manly', so nancy attitude means acting in a weak or overly feminine way.
