What do you think is meant by "filmy"?
By John Welford
@indexer (4852)
Leicester, England
4 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
23 Jan 19
The proper meaning of the word is 'very thin or nearly transparent' or 'diaphonous', which is not really how most people would want to describe their character!
I agree that it probably is intended to mean something like 'dramatic' (though I also think that it is not a way anyone with any sense would want to describe themself!)
2 people like this
@Sheali (7461)
• India
23 Jan 19
@owlwings I agree.. See the proper meaning is what you said but when people talk about some one's character they mean it in that way.. Sometimes people also say, I am filmy just to say they are as romantic as the characters in movies.. That is how people use the term.. While talking about others they could mean dramatic in a negative way as well...
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
23 Jan 19
@Sheali I think that using the word 'filmy' in the sense you describe would be considered 'slang' in England. It very much depends on where the person is from and therefore, what culture and age group they fit into. It is worth remembering that Indian English is a dialect, just as are American English and Standard British English.
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@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
23 Jan 19
My interpretation is grimy like a window is filmy with dirt.
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@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
23 Jan 19
I have no idea, really, John! Usually 'filmy' means something like 'semi-transparent' or 'as a transparent film over something'. To say that [some]one had a 'filmy personality' wouldn't exactly be a compliment! I suspect that, unless they have made a spelling mistake, this person means that they think that they would be good on film (or in a movie, if we use American terminology).
I don't think that I'd rush to meet this person, really. People who describe themselves as 'cool and funny' generally aren't and, if what I think 'filmy' is meant to mean in this context, that would translate (for me) as showy and superficial!
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@Sheali (7461)
• India
23 Jan 19
@owlwings I amjust giving an example.. Generally in movies they show people celebrating things in a very large scale which a common man doesn't do. But what if a common man does it like that because he sees that in movies and is carried away by those ideas....
Another example is singing in the middle of the road.. This happens in Bollywood movies and if some one in reality does that out of excitement, people would say he is filmy..
I hope I am able to explain my views
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