_wonky_ = "shady"?

[Jonathan Lighter]

In the late '90s my students suddenly began reporting "shady," not in the
sense "of dubious character" but  "not quite accurate or correct; odd;
'off.'"

Since then, I've encountered it a fair number of times.

JL

On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 6:02 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: _wonky_ = "shady"?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I understand "wonky" as "not quite right", ie, a cause for suspicion, not
> necessarily a judgment of character.
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 12:08 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: _wonky_ = "shady"?
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 7:36 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > That does sound very wonky
> >
> > You agree, then, that _winky) *is* being used to mean "shady"?  So,
> > why, then, did you ask for a context for the use?
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> > to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
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