Talk:sporty

RFV discussion: August 2021

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sporty

"Flashy in appearance. My new car looks sporty but is actually very practical." Wouldn't this example actually mean that the car looks "suitable for use in sport" (sense 2), i.e. like a sports car? "Flashy" seems too broad. Things can be flashy without being sporty. Equinox ◑ 19:53, 18 August 2021 (UTC)

@Equinox: A bit off definition, or usex at least, but there is something. Apart from meaning “suitable for sport” it might also mean “looking as if suitable or designed for sport” perhaps, and here it is the oldish “diversion” senses of sport. OED has six quotations but for attire connecting them to “sporting lifestyle”, apparently meaning its obsolete meaning glossed by us “unseemly male excesses”, with their last quote for sporty in that sense from 2002, which they also gloss flashy. Fay Freak (talk) 20:30, 18 August 2021 (UTC)

It brings to mind the name of the character Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess. Chuck Entz (talk) 03:58, 19 August 2021 (UTC)

I agree with Equinox that the definition is off, but I have cited the sense that I believe was intended, with a number of quotes that have NOTHING to do with sport. (For instance, sporty stripes on a wall). We should probably come up with a better definition. It is not so much flashy, as bold, vibrant, sleek, and stylish. Kiwima (talk) 03:36, 21 August 2021 (UTC)

I wonder why stripes are sporty, exactly: it might be because of the "go-faster stripes" on sports cars...? Equinox ◑ 12:55, 23 August 2021 (UTC)

I think it is because they are simple and bold (as opposed, e.g. to paisley, which is too intricate and fussy to be considered "sporty") Not all stripes would be considered sporty: if you have a pattern of stripes of varying widths, that would probably not be sporty. Kiwima (talk) 23:25, 23 August 2021 (UTC)

RFV-resolved Kiwima (talk) 22:05, 28 August 2021 (UTC)