Origin of smarty-pants First recorded in — Words nearby smarty-pants smartwatch , smart weapons , smartweed , smart wool , smarty , smarty-pants , smash , smash-and-grab , smashed , smasher , smash hit. Words related to smarty-pants know-it-all , malapert , smarty , swellhead , wise guy , wise-ass , smart alec , smart-ass , smarty pants , wisenheimer , witling.
How to use smarty-pants in a sentence So here I am in my requisite Lululemon pants, grunting along to an old hip-hop song at a most ungodly hour. Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Follow us. Choose a dictionary. Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English. Grammar Thesaurus.
Word Lists. Choose your language. My word lists. Tell us about this example sentence:. How would I say this expression when referring to a woman? Is there any difference? Hi Vanda, Wow! I'll admit I have not heard this exact expression in AE, but I have heard the term "smarty pants," and it is usually though not always used among children. In AE, "smarty pants" can be used by and towards both men and women with no distinction.
It is a name you call someone when they are acting or speaking in a sarcastic manner. However, as I am not certain whether the "smart pants" you describe is the same as the AE "smarty pants," could you please give us a bit more context here? I am also not certain if the usage among our BE-speaking friends is the same as that among AE speakers. Their "pants" are much different than ours! Edit: I did a bit of googling. I did find a few references to smart pants that were about fashion and the use of certain materials in the making of pants er, trousers to our BE bretheren that help the pants maintain their shape after wearing.
Is this what you are referring to? You're right , the correct spelling must be "smarty". The problem is that I always listen to it from the sitcoms on cable TV, so I couldn't notice the "y" in the end of the word. And also, in those sitcoms I see the actors using it to grown-ups , I know it's ironically, that's just what I need. Thank you! Southern AE greatly modified by a 1st-generation Scottish-American mother, and growing up abroad. I'm not sure a "smarty pants" is someone who speaks sarcastically-- you may be mixing in "smart aleck" here.
A smarty-pants is someone like me who thinks they know a whole lot about nearly everything. The proper time to call me by that name is when you've caught me, on the rare occasion, being wrong about something. Get his goat. Unlike the common garden variety of Swell Heads, the Smarty Pants is not happily content with grabbing the spotlight for himself — he must kick someone else in the shin while so doing. Where it comes from is, as usual with slang, rather unclear.
So it looks as though smarty-pants and its British relative, smarty-boots were elaborations on the theme, perhaps because smarty by itself was becoming shopworn. Donate via PayPal.
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