Muggy

[aleCcowaN]

I came across this adjective a lot last week and it has been making me crazy, especially "a muggy face". I have heard it a few times and I deducted by context -surely wrong- that is was something like a bloated, reddish or sweated face. Dictionaries have not been clear in pinpointing uses and translations for the term.

Last two times I heard it:

Time 5:04



The performance is there, but you may watch it here.

I seems to mean sort of making some exaggerated or unnatural facial expressions, "hacer carantoñas; carantoñesco" in Spanish.

On the other hand, I heard it yesterday from Lady Gaga judging the performance of dancer Tadd Gadduang, when she said: "the story grew and changed, and you had like this muggy look on you face ..." in a sense it seemed to mean "dangerous look, in a good way", like a mugshot look but in a dangerous-attractive sense, "rostro peligroso" or "cara patibularia, en el mejor de los sentidos" in Spanish.

Could you give me some orientation in the use of this adjective?

[poli]

The verb to mug means hacer carantoñas.

To mug is something stage actors (particularly comedians) often do.

A muggy face is a new interpretation of the verb. Traditionally
you may say making faces or making funny faces.

Muggy usually means weather like New York in July.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by poli

Muggy usually means weather like New York in July.

There is some variation in usage: for some speakers "muggy" means "oppressively hot and humid", and for other speakers it means "oppressively humid [at any temperature]".

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by wrholt

There is some variation in usage: for some speakers "muggy" means "oppressively hot and humid", and for other speakers it means "oppressively humid [at any temperature]".

A mug, the cylindrical drinking vessel with or without an handle, probably comes from Scandanavian (Norw. Mugge). These often had grotesque faces on them, presumably from which we get mug = face. But muggy probably derives from mug = mist, drizzle (cf. ON. mugga). I've never heard it used other than referring to the weather. I've no idea what the guy on the video is talking about. I don't think he does either.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you, guys! So the term is pretty ambiguous, isn't it? No wonder the dancers sort of "arquean la ceja sutilmente" when they're listening to the critique.

I found a video with Lady Gaga using the term (time: 3:35) I think with the meaning I commented:

[Perikles]

You do choose some weird videos to watch, but each to his own. By the way, is this some kind of competition for very small people, or is that woman on stage 8 metres tall?

[aleCcowaN]

Yes, most dancers are third-worldly tall, but Cat Deeley is like 1.77 metres and always on 6 inches heels so they look like Teller (1.74 m) side to side with Penn.

Any suggestions about shows, series or documentaries mixing American and British accents on a regular basis are welcome. For me it's So You Think You Can Dance, Penn and Teller: Fool Us, Episodes and a few more. I have a personal ban set on a lot of programs meeting the requirement, like most of Discovery's, most of Natgeo's, all History Channel -deleted from my remote's memory owing to its monstrosity-, two-thirds of BBC's about science, art and history, u.s.w.

At least these vanilla shows doesn't pretend to be other thing and they put me in touch with everyday-ish vocabulary and accents.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

Yes, most dancers are third-worldly tall, but Cat Deeley is like 1.77 metres and always on 6 inches heels so they look like Teller (1.74 m) side to side with Penn.

two-thirds of BBC's about science, art and history, u.s.w..

Thanks. By the way, it's usw.