walrii wrote:I’m sure Nano will be along shortly to fill in the nuances.
Oh, dear - I've become predictable. Not being one to disappoint, here you go, then, and you're welcome:
No, Ben and ytliek; walrii's got it right. "Spendy" means expensive, as in you will
have to spend a lot. His hypothetical exchange between Frank and Joe perfectly illustrates its use. Earlier on page 3, I offered my own: "Hey, check out that ski suit there. It'd be quite the item up at the cabin, don'tcha know." "I dunno ... looks kinda spendy." I was hoping that would do the job, but apparently the patois is too thick.
I don't have any slang terms for a spendthrift; if I wanted to keep it down to one word, I'd probably say "extravagant". Of course, context counts; one could use that in place of "spendy" or "pricey", too. In the unlikely event I called someone spendy, just as with "expensive" it would be understood in reference to their services commanding high bucks, or in being overpriced.
Understatement and irony are as Nordic as rye bread, so it also peppers everyday local speech, here; you might say of your shiny new car, "It gets the job done," while you're glowing about it. Confrontation offers good examples: it would be typical of the natives to say, "Maybe you could tone it down a bit," in place of "Please be quiet." Make no mistake, it's not necessarily the thinblooded supplication it sounds like in print; if you want to be ornery it can easily be delivered, and so understood, as a hard poke in the ribs no matter how "polite" the wording is; tone, body language and facial expression do the real talking. Telling a rowdy adult to be quiet is sticking your nose unasked into someone else's business, and that strains the social contract, so of course you lighten up the wording accordingly; but when done in full force, the understatement becomes a form of irony that, in this case, carries a sting. By contrast, change the wording to "Maybe you should tone it down a bit" (
should, not could); if you're not negotiating, then it's a clear warning, and that can run from mild to even as far as meaning, "I'm an inch away from taking matters into my own hands, so wise up and chill out, buster -
NOW." It's all in the delivery and context, but if you're paying attention it should be easy to catch. As you can see, high-context communication covers a lot of ground, but while it's very Minnesotan, neither is it universally so; the amount of Nordic influence (could be family, could be neighborhood) is what determines how likely you are to fall into talking around something. But it may go right over the heads of those who aren't used to it. Personally, I think it's a carryover from the time when every Viking and his dog walked around armed, and if your honor meant anything you were expected to stick up for yourself even if it came to blows, so it paid to be aware of what you were saying. I'll bet the first woman ever to say, "What, this old rag?" was a Swede.
I tend to think of "spendy" as an extension of that communication style.
On a side note, out-of-staters often lump us together as being a passive-aggressive bunch, and of course some are; you'll find that anywhere you go. But the more sweeping generalization mistakes style for substance; visitors either just can't keep up and don't realize it, or they find the style too foreign; either way, it's easier for them to make sense of it by simply pigeonholing it with a pathology, and dismiss it that way. It's too bad they can't see the broader view, but whatever gets you thru the night, I guess. For me, it's a playground. After all, since you're still going to know it for what it is, a threat is even tastier when it's veiled. Style, my friend. Style.