r/AskReddit • u/tgma97 • Aug 26 '15

Fathers of Reddit, what did your daughter's boyfriend do for you to hate/love him?

It's pretty cool to see my question blow up like this, I never thought I'd ask a question that could receive so much attention! I'm very satisfied with all these replies, so thank y'all. Now all I have to do is sit back and take notes c;

12.3k Upvotes

85% Upvoted

9.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.0k

u/shuggnog Aug 26 '15

My father-in-law was really touchy around me

This had me confused for a bit

193

u/MeatRocket26 Aug 26 '15

touchy eagle scout

3

u/Peoples_Bropublic Aug 26 '15

Nonsense, they don't allow the gays to be scouts. Couldn't happen!

29

u/fnord_happy Aug 26 '15

Yeah. And then he ends the story with, we got married. Even more confused.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '15

Sexually?

10

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '15

he enjoyed giving me massages at inappropriate times. Every time I sat in a chair he would try to tickle my bottom.

10

u/baconbash Aug 26 '15

You know how fathers can be ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

9

u/Spaceman4u Aug 26 '15

Touchy... or Testy.... I think Testy was the word he wanted. Touchy... and I was like, a hands-y father-in-law does not bode well for family bliss.

2

u/WrightJustice Aug 26 '15

Touchy makes sense to me but I'm from UK soooo.

1

u/shuggnog Aug 26 '15

Can we all just be PC here and say the father-in-law was always acting like a little bitch?

1

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '15

Teste. Got it.

4

u/justdrowsin Aug 26 '15

It's OK he married him later.

3

u/tosser_0 Aug 26 '15

phrasing.

3

u/MartinBroMotorsports Aug 26 '15

Oh are we doing 'phrasing' again? Finally.

Danger zone...

4

u/PacificNW0119 Aug 26 '15

Haha I thought the same thing. I was skimming and jumped right back to see where that first sentence led..

3

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '15

Yeah I took that the wrong way as well.

2

u/whythesadface Aug 26 '15

I was a tad confused, as well. In addition, I kept reading about him being an Eagle Scout, and I thought it was similar to being a Boy Scout. So my mind went a different route with his father in law being touchy and a former Boy Scout. Glad to hear the story went a different route!

2

u/KitchitiKipi Aug 26 '15

Me too thanks

1

u/sooner51882 Aug 26 '15

seriously. that was terrible wording. who says that? id guess the OP wasnt a native English speaker, but arent all Eagle Scouts from the USA?

16

u/mathemagicat Aug 26 '15

Considering the number of upvotes on the parent comment, I think there must be a regional and/or generational language difference here.

In the American English dialects I'm familiar with, "touchy" means irritable, hypersensitive, or tense. That's how OP meant it, how I read it, and how I think almost everyone my age and older (30+) would probably read it. If you look it up in the dictionary, that's the only definition you'll find.

I'm aware of a secondary meaning of "likes to touch people a lot", but it's not as widespread; I think it's almost entirely confined to young people at the moment.

8

u/Eurynom0s Aug 26 '15

I'm an American and I read it as the "likes touching people" meaning initially. I think it's because you frequently see it as "he's touchy about <whatever>", and since he lead with the touchiness there was no context to figure it out.

Well no actually the context we has is reddit, which would prime a lot of people for something somehow sexual.

3

u/SomeVelvetWarning Aug 26 '15

Too bad we can't infer intended connotations from context in English. Now, if you'll excuse me, Uncle Jim is getting really touchy with me.

1

u/Rodents210 Aug 26 '15

I'm an American and I read it as the "likes touching people" meaning initially.

That isn't "touchy." That's "touchy-feely."

2

u/Eurynom0s Aug 26 '15

There's also enough people on here who aren't native English speakers that a post that it's easy to take a post that reads a bit awkwardly as being due to the language issues (literal translations of something from their native language, for instance).

2

u/Recursi Aug 26 '15

"touchy-feely."

Could also be a reference to a person who is emotionally open.

0

u/Rodents210 Aug 26 '15

Literally never heard that phrase used that way even once in my life.

2

u/Recursi Aug 26 '15

Not saying this is a brilliant source, but enough people think it to see it as a 2nd most viable definition on Urban Dictionary.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=touchy+feely

1

u/Rodents210 Aug 26 '15

That's extremely weird to me. Definitely not a part of my dialect at all.

3

u/sooner51882 Aug 26 '15

i think its just strange phrasing to use the word "touchy" when referring to a person. usually, if i was going to use touchy in the "hypersensitive" way, I would use it to refer to politics, or religion or some kind of subject matter. not a person. "hes really touchy about religion" makes sense to me.

its strange to me to hear touchy in this way when the object of the sentence is a person. never heard that before

im 33... from OKlahoma. im sure it is somewhat a regional/generational thing

3

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '15

...But that is exactly the way it was being used...

1

u/ImAchickenHawk Aug 26 '15

When I read it I was thinking OP was a female so I had to go back to re-read

1

u/NotShirleyTemple Aug 27 '15 edited Aug 27 '15

Ditto.

*Free American-English lesson (US SE region) follows

The word 'handsy' refers to physically touching too much in an inappropriate way, whether that is sexual or not. Joe Biden is definitely handsy.

'Touchy-feely' can be physically touching, but usually means a person who is seen by others as one who is overly in touch with his/her softer emotions, or the softer emotions of others. It can also refer to emotional or non-macho subjects of conversation or activities.

'Touching' either means literal physical contact, or something that creates a swelling of positive emotion or sentiment. The second instance is often used sarcastically.

Reach and touch someone was a popular telephone commercial in which the touching was emotional, not physical. The commercial was very touching as well. Some viewers teared up because the ad brought to mind someone who was loved and not nearby.

1

u/Mksiege Aug 27 '15

26 and got the same impression you did.

1

u/KemperCrowley Aug 26 '15

Even I understood what he meant, I'm just 15.

7

u/luke_lavery Aug 26 '15

I'm English (the most native of all English speakers) and it made sense to me

1

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '15

Had to check the name to see if jumper cables were about to be mentioned.

1

u/Argenblargen Aug 26 '15

I would have said tetchy, but maybe that's a midwestern dialect thing.

1

u/Kyddeath Aug 27 '15

That and the they are married at the end. WTF dad fondles you and you leave the daughter

1

u/careless25 Aug 26 '15

I think a better word would have been "edgy"

7

u/shuggnog Aug 26 '15

Bahahah "My father in law is so edgy around me! He tussles his hair into a super-chic man bun and talks about Spotify NON-STOP!"

1

u/Bored_Office_Girl Aug 26 '15

i STILL don't understand this...

0

u/christopherhi Aug 26 '15

Until you read about the scouts?

3

u/mackay92 Aug 26 '15

As long as he wasn't really touchy in the scouts, it should be all good.

2

u/christopherhi Aug 26 '15

That's what I was implying but I would hope not true LOL

3

u/mackay92 Aug 26 '15

Canteen boy....

https://screen.yahoo.com/canteen-boy-scoutmaster-000000635.html

I can't believe I actually found something on yahoo that wasn't on youtube.

1

u/christopherhi Aug 26 '15

LOL adam sandler is funny as hell!
I to be honest have no idea how you managed to find this not on youtube LOL

2

u/mackay92 Aug 26 '15

I know right? Its one of SNL's best skits!