Personalty

Question

Hello everyone!I wonder what "personalty" means, I checked in an online [url=http://www.yourdictionary.com/personal-property]dictionary[/url] and it says  "any property that is not real property and that is movable or not attached to the land"    - I understand the definition, what I don't understand is this sentence: "Where are your personalties?" -  I was asked that question while I was chatting and still don't understand what it means."Where are you personalties?"   =  "Where are your personal properties?"   ??      - I still don't understand Thanks in advance for your help!

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

Hi Pucca -

Make sure you are looking at personality, not personal property!

A person has only one personality. You may someone has a cheerful personality, or a generous one, or a selfish one.

If someone asked me what my personalities were (in the plural) I would think that they thought I had that mental illness in which you have more than one "person" living inside you.

Pucca · Answer

Good morning, Barb!

I asked if he meant "personality" and even told him that I had only one personality.
His reply was that I had to look the word up in the dictionary, I did try to look the word up in my dictionary but there is no such word so, I tried on an online dictionary and that was the answer I got but, I don't understand.

Khoff · Answer

"Where are your personalities?" Pucca -- you don't understand because the question doesn't make any sense!. You are correct; you have only one personality. (Unless, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, you have a "split personality.") And, regardless of the singular or plural nature of personality, asking where they are is really bizarre. I think that the person you were speaking to was just using the word incorrectly, and then was arrogant and condescending about it instead of trying to explain his meaning.

Yankee · Answer

I can't imagine a "normal" person using the word "personalty".

Were you by any chance chatting with a lawyer (or a "lawyer wannabe"), Pucca?

Lawyers have a language of their own known as "Legalese". lol
The word personalty sounds to me like a word that would be used only in "Legalese".
The plural would basically mean "individual pieces of personal property".

http://www.bartleby.com/61/1/P0210100.html

Kooyeen · Answer

Looks like you were chatting about law using "legalese" (Gosh, I hate that stuff), and talking about "movable property" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personalty . In Italian that's "beni mobili", the opposite of immovable property (buildings are the most common examples of that).
Now, since that seems unlikely, it's more likely you were just talking with a weirdo, LOL.

Anyway, maybe a little more context would help... unless you don't want to tell about the context, of course.

Pucca · Answer

Thanks for your replies, Khoff, Amy and TB [F]

To tell the truth, I have never had a "proper" chat with the person, I kind of escape from her.

I would really like to give more context but, it was only the second question, lol - It came after "Where have you been?"

So, there is no need to use "personalty" unless I want to be a lawyer, right? Great!

Khoff · Answer

Oh -- I thought the original questioner was just misusing "personalities."  If they were really inquiring about "personalties," with the legal meaning of personal property (as opposed to realty, I guess) then it was not a grammatically weird question -- just a socially weird question.

Pucca · Answer

khoff just a socially weird question.

LoL - I can tell you about her future socially weird questions!

Personalty

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