Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ZADDY
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pronounce
ZADDY:
Say it "ZAD ee."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Let's start by letting Google Images define zaddy:
There you have it! An array of zaddies: older men with a confident swagger and a fantastic sense of fashion.
You could describe all of their outfits with a word that rhymes with zaddy. See if you can recall it: _____ things and people are stylish and fashionable in a neat, sharp, smart way.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
"Zaddy," probably a play on the word "daddy," is a slang word that became popular in 2016. That's when the song "Zaddy" came out, by Ty Dolla Sign. The lyrics (which aren't for kids' eyes) celebrate being a confident, fashionable, desirable man.
And that's what a zaddy is: a man, usually at least forty or fifty years old, with confidence, good looks, and excellent taste in clothes.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Noun, the countable kind: "Do you think he's a zaddy?" "It's a perfume commercial, so it's got a bunch of models and zaddies."
Other forms:
The plural is "zaddies."
As time goes on, I'm sure we'll see "zaddy" being used as an adjective, too. So feel free to do that, and to invent other forms as you need them, like "zaddier" and "zaddiness."
how to use it:
It's a fun, funny, slangy, somewhat edgy word, but you'll also hear it in clean (and clean-ish) mainstream media, like on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
At the moment, it's recognized by very few dictionaries. So if you enjoy being in the vanguard of vocabulary, you'll enjoy using "zaddy."
You might refer to some character or celebrity as a zaddy: "The Bond girl is always some pretty young thing, and Bond is always a zaddy."
examples:
"The Unstoppable Rise of the Zaddy: Youth will always have a place in fashion, but lately, men of a certain age rule the runway."
— Nick Haramis, New York Times, 4 September 2019
"The 20 Worst Christmas Songs of All Time... Mr. Claus is so busy all year long, greasing his sled, checking his lists, and wrangling his reindeer. The last thing this chubby-cheeked snow zaddy needs is fending off... 'Santa Baby' gold-diggers."
— David Browne, Jon Dolan, Brenna Ehrlich, Maria Fontoura, Joe Gross, Kory Grow, Angie Martoccio, Rob Sheffield, and Lisa Tozzi, Rolling Stone, 17 December 2021
has this page helped you understand "zaddy"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "zaddy" without saying "older guy with swagger" or "fashionable man."
try it out:
Check out this excerpt from a 2021 interview:
Memphis Flyer: First, I've seen you describe yourself as a "plant zaddy"— care to define that for our readers?
Eso Tolson: [Laughs] Yeah! So, a "Plant Zaddy" is someone who is very intentional about plants in their spaces. It's not just about having a plant or two randomly in a room. It's something that is highly curated into your space/life. It's about style. It's about a level of swag and expression. I'm a plant parent, but I make it look really good.
Using "plant zaddy" as an example, invent another type of zaddy. What does this person do, and how do they make it look good?
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game for this month is "Provocative Verbs."
Check out the headline below. Originally, it included some highly emotional verb, like "bushwhack," "agonize," or "soar." But I've swapped it out for an emotionless one.
Try to restore the strong feelings that the headline originally evoked by choosing your own highly emotional verb to swap back in. For example, instead of "St. Jude Keeps Billions While Many of Its Families Use Their Savings," you might come up with "St. Jude Hoards Billions While Many of Its Families Drain Their Savings," the original provocative headline from ProPublica.
Scroll all the way down to see the original headline. You might think of the same verbs as the original writers did, or yours might be even spicier.
Try this one today:
From the Conversation: "The Massachusetts flag shows the violence committed by colonizers – Native Americans want it changed."
review this word:
A. a SLACKER: someone with little motivation and, therefore, little achievement.
B. an AWKWARD TEEN: someone shy, always dressed in ill-fitting shirts and dorky shoes.
C. a HELICOPTER PARENT: someone overinvolved in, and overly protective of, their children.
2.
In the movie Don't Look Up, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a scientist, one portrayed online and in the media as a zaddy but who, truly, is _____.
A. unqualified
B. nervous and diffident
C. eager to profit above all else
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
On vocabulary...
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.
From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Let's start by letting Google Images define zaddy:
"Zaddy," probably a play on the word "daddy," is a slang word that became popular in 2016. That's when the song "Zaddy" came out, by Ty Dolla Sign. The lyrics (which aren't for kids' eyes) celebrate being a confident, fashionable, desirable man.
Part of speech:
It's a fun, funny, slangy, somewhat edgy word, but you'll also hear it in clean (and clean-ish) mainstream media, like on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
"The Unstoppable Rise of the Zaddy: Youth will always have a place in fashion, but lately, men of a certain age rule the runway."
Explain the meaning of "zaddy" without saying "older guy with swagger" or "fashionable man."
Check out this excerpt from a 2021 interview:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |