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Mr. Tom Posted 8 years ago
Vocabulary

Hokey, Mushy, Sugary, Syrupy, Soppy

Hi

Are these words essentially synonymous, meaning overly sentimental?

Hokey -- Mushy -- Sugary -- Syrupy -- Soppy

This is what I learnt on Google Ngram viewer about their frequency in usage. Can I request your take?

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=soppy%2Cmushy%2Csyrupy%2Csugary%2Chokey&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Csoppy%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cmushy%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Csyrupy%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Csugary%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chokey%3B%2Cc0

Thanks,

Tom

  

Top answer

Mr. Tom HiAre these words essentially synonymous, meaning overly sentimental? Hokey -- Mushy -- Sugary -- Syrupy -- Soppy No, only the last one seems relevant.

— Anonymous

  • Mr.
  • Tom HiAre these words essentially synonymous, meaning overly sentimental?
  • Hokey -- Mushy -- Sugary -- Syrupy -- Soppy No, only the last one seems relevant.
  • Mr.
  • Tom Hokey This is unfamiliar to me in the UK.
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4 Answers
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Mr. TomHiAre these words essentially synonymous, meaning overly sentimental? Hokey -- Mushy -- Sugary -- Syrupy -- Soppy

No, only the last one seems relevant.

Mr. TomHokey

This is unfamiliar to me in the UK.

Mr. TomMushy -- Sugary -- Syrupy

These are only familiar in the

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Mr. Tomoverly sentimental

I'd put 'mushy' first. Then 'sugary' and 'syrupy'. I'm not familiar with 'soppy'. 'hokey' doesn't sound sentimental at all to my ear. I hear it more often in its other definition (artificial, contrived).

CJ

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They are quite low register and have literal meanings.

More formal words are

maudlin (especially in English literature before 1900)

https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2018/01/15/what-in-the-word-maudlin/

saccharine

mawkish

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I believe some of the confusion here is that Americans use some of these words and the English use the others. In America, I've never once heard Sugary or Syrupy used in this context. Mushy is used as sort of sentimental, but often it just means emotional. For example "this is a mushy love song." Sappy is another word used similar to Mushy. Hokey is used with the defin

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