For my entire life, I always thought someone like a car salesman is called “swarmy.” But today I was corrected. It’s “smarmy.” That just sounds wrong.
Swarmy
- Of bees: inclined to swarm.
- Swarming with people or activity; teeming.
Smarmy
- Falsely earnest, smug, ingratiating, or pious.
a smarmy salesman with a big smile - (rare, dated) Unctuous, greasy, as hair from pomade.
Where does the word “smarmy” come from? Let’s look at the etymology. The entry for “smarmy” on Etymonline says:
1909, “smooth and sleek;” 1924, “ingratiating, unctuous;” from smarm + -y (2). Related: Smarmily; smarminess.
Smooth and sleek? That’s rather odd. Let’s see if there is more clarification under the entry for “smarm“:
1914, from colloquial verb smalm, smarm “to smear, bedaub” (the hair, with pomade), 1847, of unknown origin, perhaps somehow suggestive of the action. Verbal meaning “to smear with flattery” is from 1902.
Ahhh, “to smear with flattery”. Now that makes more sense. From now on, I’ll think of smarmy as to smear.
It’s interesting to note that the evolution of “smarm” and “smarmy” seems to reflect a broader shift in language and culture. The use of flattery and smooth-talking to gain advantage or favor has likely been around for as long as humans have interacted with one another, but the rise of mass media in the 20th century may have given the phenomenon new prominence. With politicians, advertisers, and other public figures using language to manipulate and persuade, it’s no wonder that we have words like “smarmy” to describe their tactics.
is a car salesman a pack of bees? then he’d be swarmy.
Swarmy? What does that mean? Smarmy is the word Swarthy is a good word too. Ever heard that one?
Swarmy is an unscrupulous person. Smarmy is an smug obnoxious person Swarthy is a dark skinned person
Swarthmy is a dark skinned person who is either smarmy or swarmy.
I always thought the word was swarmy until today.
It’s always been swarmy for me. (Pronounced sch-warmey actually like schmuck sound to indicate the distaste with which you have for the arrogant smile of the git!). It is in Scotland at least…
Ahh, that would explain why I thought it was spelled swarmy—because it can be pronounced sch-warmey.
And fourteen years later, people are still making this vocabular discovery. Thank you Garden of Words!
I AGREE 100%. This has to be a mandela effect.
So what does swarmy mean? The author did not actually do a versus like the title says.
You are correct. I didn’t include a definition of swarmy in the post. Just today I updated the post to include the swarmy definition. Thank you for helping to make this post better.