the.com/softie
Hard exterior, optional; melts the moment a dog looks at it sideways.
means A person who seems tough or no-nonsense but is actually easily moved to sympathy, affection, or sentimentality.
from Straightforward formation: 'soft' (Old English 'softe,' meaning gentle, mild, not hard) plus the informal '-ie' suffix that English loves to tack onto adjectives to turn them into affectionate nouns for people — think 'sweetie,' 'toughie,' 'cutie.' The word shows up in the 19th century as slang for a weak, foolish, or easily-imposed-upon person, with the warmer modern sense — someone secretly tender-hearted — settling in over time as the word mellowed, much like the people it describes.
- secret identity
- tough talker who cries at insurance commercials
- tell
- says maybe when they mean absolutely
- weakness
- anything smaller than them, literally anything