sweety to mean sweetie

We were arguing in class if the noun ''sweety" existed. After looking it up in monolingual dictionaries I argued against its existance. The only spelling I could find was "sweetie".
What would you say?

ostap77 said:

We were arguing in class if the noun ''sweety" existed. After looking it up in monolingual dictionaries I argued against its exist[STRIKE]a[/STRIKE]ence. The only spelling I could find was "sweetie".
What would you say?

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Stick to 'sweetie', if you really must use the word. I generally manage to survive without it.

That's because you're an old curmudgeon. ;-) I use it. Though rarely in writing, so it's hard to tell if I say it with the "ie" or the "y" pronunciation.

fivejedjon said:

Stick to 'sweetie', if you really must use the word. I generally manage to survive without it.

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My curmudgeonly father-in-law is a collector of antique bottles.....he has, for example, Bayer aspirin bottles dating back to 1899, not to mention old vinegar bottles, soda pop bottles, etc. Anyway, I actually hadn't realized how Mr. Ouisch and I had fallen into a routine of always referring to or addressing each other as "Sweetie" until one day during a visit to my father-in-law's home (he lives in Georgia, we live in Michigan - we only get to visit there maybe twice per year) when he emerged from the "bottle room" and grumbeld "Here - I saw these at an antique show and bought them as a gift because they reminded me of you two...." He held out two very old emtpy bottles of some long-ago discontinued soda pop called "Sweetie." "It's all you two ever call each other...." he then snorted and sort of rolled his eyes.

Barb_D said:

That's because you're an old curmudgeon.

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Moi? Aroint thee, witch.

Ouisch said:

He held out two very old emtpy bottles of some long-ago discontinued soda pop called "Sweetie." "It's all you two ever call each other...." he then snorted and sort of rolled his eyes.

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I sort of like him already.

fivejedjon said:

I sort of like him already.

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What about spelling wise?

ostap77 said:

What about spelling wise?

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At my time of life, I am used to living with emtpy bottles

I would use sweetie but I am not sure I would go as far as arguing against the existence of sweety.

You can call someone "Sweety" because you can use any name you like. But as a noun, "She is such an old sweetie", the "sweetie" spelling is preferred.
Just be careful that, in writing, you don't call someone "Sweaty", and you should be OK.

I'm wondering if there's a difference between using the word as an endearment and using it as the noun for sweets (candies).

I think I would write:

Hi sweetie! How are you? (Endearment)

Hello little girl. Would you like a sweety? (Candy)

The online dictionary I checked simply says that "sweety" is an alternative spelling for "sweetie" for both meanings though.

emsr2d2 said:

I'm wondering if there's a difference between using the word as an endearment and using it as the noun for sweets (candies).

I think I would write:

Hi sweetie! How are you? (Endearment)

Hello little girl. Would you like a sweety? (Candy)

The online dictionary I checked simply says that "sweety" is an alternative spelling for "sweetie" for both meanings though.

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I've never heard of "sweety" for sweets. But I guess it's correct BrE.

An idea passed through my mind that "Sweetie" might be feminine and "Sweety" masculine. There is no evidence for this, but there are some words that act this way, specially with names (though this is changing)

Lesley (m), Leslie (f); Andy/Andie; Tony/Toni; Franky/Frankie; Jacky/Jackie(Jacqui) ... Sweety/Sweetie.

Raymott said:

I've never heard of "sweety" for sweets. But I guess it's correct BrE.

An idea passed through my mind that "Sweetie" might be feminine and "Sweety" masculine. There is no evidence for this, but there are some words that act this way, specially with names (though this is changing)

Lesley (m), Leslie (f); Andy/Andie; Tony/Toni; Franky/Frankie; Jacky/Jackie(Jacqui) ... Sweety/Sweetie.

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It's used a lot in BrE.

Mum, can I have sweeties?
If you eat all those sweeties, you won't have room for dinner.
I have a bag of sweeties in the car.

It's generally used around children but plenty of adults I know say it too, although perhaps in a slightly childish voice!

That's an interesting thought about masc/fem versions. I have no idea.

I'd offer my sweetie a sweetie, and think she'd do the same.

This side of the Atlantic, I've never heard "sweety" for a piece of candy. I like it, but I haven't heard it.

Little shops, usually on corners in residential areas, were known by two names:

- Corner shops
- Sweetie shops

There are now quite a lot of nostalgic shops where you can buy boiled sweets (Cola Cubes, Pineapple Chunks) loose from plastic jars, something which went out of favour in the late 80s. If the owner wants to make such a shop sound even more old-fashioned, they might use those rather twee words which they seem to think are cute:

Ye Olde Worlde Sweetye Shoppe

;-)

Barb_D said:

This side of the Atlantic, I've never heard "sweety" for a piece of candy. I like it, but I haven't heard it.

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We don't use candy much.

Tdol said:

We don't use candy much.

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That's true. I'm still a little confused with the American use of candy - does it mean boiled sugar sweets or does it mean chocolate. It seems to mean both.

A Dime Bar is a candy bar.
I have a bag of candies.

"Candy" is very broad. Just about anything you can buy from Hershey is candy.

A chocolate bar, a small wrapped peppermint, a toffee, jelly beans... If it's really sweet and not baked, it is likely a candy.

Barb_D said:

"Candy" is very broad. Just about anything you can buy from Hershey is candy.

A chocolate bar, a small wrapped peppermint, a toffee, jelly beans... If it's really sweet and not baked, it is likely a candy.

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Ah, thanks for the clarification.