plump chubby

[keannu]

How do u say that a girl is fat in an uninsulting way?
Which makes an inoffensive and understated expression? Are these all ok ay or offensive? Maybe it depends on the degree of obesity, but I mean a girl who is overweight and moon-faced.

plump, chubby, big

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

How do you say that a girl is fat in a non-insulting way? [In conversation, you don't.]
Which is an inoffensive and understated expression? Are these all okay or offensive? Maybe it depends on the degree of obesity, but I mean a girl who is overweight, [No.] moon-faced, [No.] plump, [No.] chubby, [No.] or big. [No.]

To her face? You don't.

For writing a description in prose? I've seen zaftig, Reubenesque, full-figured, ample, and big-boned. They all have slightly different uses.

PS - Keannu, you already know that you is spelled Y-O-U!

 

[emsr2d2]

Even as a language exercise, why on earth would you want to insult and offend someone on the basis of their weight? At least in the interests of equality, I trust you're planning to insult some obese men too.

 

[Skrej]

I think the term 'plus sized' is currently in vogue, particularly in the fashion industry, for both men and women.

'Big-boned' is an old euphemism for overweight, as are 'big' and 'heavy'. They're all about as benign as the subject can be.

 

[keannu]

Someone asked me for euphemism for those words and I couldn't answer it. She tried to use more decent words to describe her best friend and I felt it a pity I couldn’t help her. Emsr got me wrong.

 

[konungursvia]

One thing that often works as a euphemism here is to use the comparative 'bigger.' This implies that we are mentally dividing people into two camps, the average sized and those who are, well, bigger than they are. This seems to help make the overweight person seem less of an extreme phenomenon and more of a slight difference. However, euphemisms quickly turn ironic, which is why we keep inventing new words for children who learn slowly -- the old words become insulting quite rapidly (a few decades). I've heard big-boned, as Skrej points out, and even 'built close to the ground.'

 

[Raymott]

"Obese", as ems uses it, is a good word. It's correct as a definition; it's medically correct. And in the event that you actually need to communicate that a woman is obese, it's generally non-judgemental (since it can be backed up by quoting her Body Mass Index).
The Anglosphere has become very reluctant to describe any attributes of people which may be viewed as negative.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

"Obese", as ems uses it, is a good word. It's correct as a definition; it's medically correct. And in the event that you actually need to communicate that a woman is obese, it's generally non-judgemental (since it can be backed up by quoting her Body Mass Index).
The Anglosphere has become very reluctant to describe any attributes of people which may be viewed as negative.

Good points, as long as we remember that (a) overweight isn't necessarily obese and (b) we don't know which Keannu means.