the.com/surliness
Rudeness that gave up on even pretending to apologize for itself.
means A sullen, bad-tempered rudeness that bristles at being approached, rather than exploding outright.
from Surliness comes from 'surly,' which started out as 'sirly' — meaning lordly or imperious, literally 'sir-like.' The idea was of someone acting with the haughty arrogance of a lord. Over time the sense curdled from 'proud and domineering' into 'gruff and ill-tempered,' as the word drifted from describing how the powerful treated others to describing a general sour, unapproachable manner. The spelling shifted from 'sirly' to 'surly' along the way, scrubbing out the visible trace of 'sir' even as the attitude stuck around.
- root
- from sirly, originally meant lordly or arrogant
- cousin word
- related to sir, ironically
- vibe
- grumpiness with a chip on its shoulder
- not to confuse
- shyness looks similar, hates you less