Says Kalleh, "<span class="ev_code_BLUE">Dictionary.com insists that the adjective form of 'fad' is 'faddy,' though I thought it was 'faddish.'</span>" Dictionary.com is taking its cite from AHD.<BR><BR>To me, Kalleh's right; I don't buy what dictionary.com says. Which would you say?faddishfaddyeither, interchangeablyeither, but with distinct meanings

I hate to give away my vote , but I hadn't even heard of "faddy" before I looked it up!

I would love to know why people chose to vote in a particular way or if it was just a guess. I certainly had a reason for my vote but I don't want to ruin the thread by posting it. Could someone please let me know when it is acceptable to do this or should we start another thread when the vote is deemed complete?

I'm not going to vote for either one.

From Dictionary.com:

quote:

2 entries found for faddy.
fad
n.

A fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time; a craze.


[Possibly from fidfad, fussy person, fussy, from fiddle-faddle.]
faddism n.
faddist n.
faddy adj.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

faddy

adj : intensely fashionable for a short time [syn: faddish]

Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

It cites both faddy and faddish as being adjectives for fad. I don't remember ever hearing faddy before and I don't care for it. Fad is often used as an adjective, as in "fad diet" and "fad word."

For what it's worth, the OED Online labels faddy as "Chiefly dial. and colloq." and traces it to 1824. It cites faddish as an adjective dating to 1855.

Tinman

I would love to know why people chose to vote in a particular way or if it was just a guess.

I voted for faddish because I, on occasion, use the word. I didn't vote for faddy because I have never heard or used it.

Doad, no worries and no reason for hesitancy. Dive right in.

On a related note, consider the terms faddist and fadista as possible terms for "one who repeatedly follows the latest fad". Neither is familiar to me. Each is in use, according to google; the latter's number of "hits" is quite significant number (though distinctly minority).

And yet all the one-look dictionaries ignore the latter, though many recognize the former. Once again, I'm very skeptical of what the dictionaries claim.

I can't ever remember using either. If I wanted to write on this subject I'd probably use faddy, for no particular reason that I can give. I have seen faddish used, and it seems to mean precisely the same as faddy.

quote:

If I wanted to write on this subject I'd probably use faddy, for no particular reason that I can give. I

Aha! I bet you've hit the nail on the head, arnie. I would imagine that "faddy" is much more common in the U.K. than here. After all we have some excellent linguaphiles here from the U.S. who hadn't heard of "faddy" (I exclude yours truly on that! ),and yet you'd choose it over "fadish."

Doad, what are your thoughts?

OK then, I will post. I voted for either, with distinct meanings because of the definition I found in my beloved 2 volume dictionary that got CW so excited when I told her about it (strange woman). Both 'faddish' and 'faddy' are mentioned and both are described as adjectives. A 'faddish' describes 'the nature of a fad' whereas 'faddy' seems to refer more to a person as 'one who has a fad'.