The usage in question

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Jack is overjoyed at the good news and forgets keeping his decent manner. And so William remarks:

Has the joy turned you topsy-turvy, Jack?

By which William means "Has the joy made your manner lost its decorum?".

Do you think the sentence " Has the joy turned you topsy-turvy, Jack?" sounds natural in English language?

Or has the term "topsy-turvy" been used properly?

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 331 • Replies: 24

'Upside down" might be used. Topsy-turvey is an old fashion way of saying that.

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@sullyfish6,

Thanks

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"Topsy-turvy" may be considered "old fashioned" by some people, but it is still current in British English. Furthermore, it does not just mean "upside down"; it has a wider meaning of "disorderly" or "chaotic". Another odd sounding phrase with a similar meaning is "higgledy-piggledy".

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@contrex,

Thank you. That is useful.

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@oristarA,

I speak American English (a New England variety).

The question "Has the joy turned you topsy-turvy?" sounds childishly strange. This is nothing like what an American speaker of English would say.

I can't imagine an English speaker of English saying something like this either, but I can't really speak to that.

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Nothing in that opening post reads as though it had been written by a native-speaker of the English language. It's very bad writing.

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Quote:

I can't imagine an English speaker of English saying something like this either,

This is from a 19th century novel I believe. The phrase topsy-turvy is still in fairly wide use, meaning "disordered" or "messy".

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Jack is overjoyed at the good news and forgets keeping his decent manner. And so William remarks:

Has the joy turned you topsy-turvy, Jack?

By which William means "Has the joy made your manner lost its decorum?".

Do you think the sentence " Has the joy turned you topsy-turvy, Jack?" sounds natural in English language?

Or has the term "topsy-turvy" been used properly?

"topsy-turvy" indicates upside down, as the result of loss of balance; it implies instability.

In America, it was very informal language,
as might be expected from playful children in the early 1900s or the late 1800s.

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@Setanta,

Quote:

Nothing in that opening post reads as though it had been written by a native-speaker of the English language. It's very bad writing.

You're really not that thick, Setanta, that you don't realize it's Oristar asking questions in order to improve his use of English.

================

1. Jack is overjoyed at the good news and forgets keeping his decent manner.
[needs some editing]

2. And so William remarks: [fine]

3. Has the joy turned you topsy-turvy, Jack? [fine]

4. By which William means "Has the joy made your manner lost its decorum?".
[needs some editing]

5. Do you think the sentence " Has the joy turned you topsy-turvy, Jack?" sounds natural in English language? [fine]

6. Or has the term "topsy-turvy" been used properly? [fine]

===============

Four out of the six are acceptable examples of English. That's a far cry from "Nothing in that opening post reads ... "

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@oristarA,

oristarA, do you ever have opportunities to listen to native English speakers in conversation?

Nothing in the first post scans properly to me.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Quote:
Jack is overjoyed at the good news and forgets keeping his decent manner. And so William remarks:

Has the joy turned you topsy-turvy, Jack?

By which William means "Has the joy made your manner lost its decorum?".

The last sentence is better rendered as:
"Has the joy made your manner lose its decorum?"

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Jack is overjoyed at the good news and forgets keeping his decent manner.

The word DECENT is not well chosen for this use.
That word is too severe; if Jack is guilty of indecent behavior,
then he might be dragged away in chains, to jail by the police.

A better choice of possible words for the intended meaning is:
self-possessed, or masterful, or suave, or gracious, or urbane,
or facile, or smooth or cultivated, adept, well-bred, deft, glib, or proficient.

There r other reasonable choices.

It might be better rendered:
Jack is overjoyed at the good news and forgets TO KEEP his self-possessed manner.

David

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Thanks for maintaining my confidence, JTT.

But I believe Setanta is well intentioned in commenting.

And I thank Dave, OmSigDAVID, for his correcting.

To ehBeth,

Here in my city, Wenzhou, there are few native English speakers. I almost haven't had any opportunity to talk with them.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

Can you listen to online radio from North America? I think it would be helpful to you if you could really hear what this is supposed to sound like.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

ehbeth, why shouldn't OristarA listen to radio from Britain, South Africa, India or Australasia?

2 Replies

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

ehbeth, why shouldn't OristarA listen to radio from Britain, South Africa, India or Australasia?

It depends on how he wants to sound.

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

It depends on how he wants to sound.

We know that. Rolling Eyes

we don't "how he wants to sound", and it just seems a bit North American-centric to only suggest that OristarA should listen to American broadcasts, when a more of the world's English speakers live outside North America than live on that continent.

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

OmSigDAVID wrote:
It depends on how he wants to sound.

We know that. we don't "how he wants to sound", and it just seems a bit North American-centric to only suggest that OristarA should listen to American broadcasts, when a more of the world's English speakers live outside North America than live on that continent.

The usage in question

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