Wow I feel old.
Corny is a much older term. At least as old as the 1940s. It means something is overly sentimental, attempting to evoke something that it fails at. A badly acted romance movie might be corny, in that it attempts to elicit emotions but fails at it, but a well acted one wouldn't; it attempts to evoke the same emotions, and succeeds. That said, it's rarely used now, and when it is, yes, oftentimes it's used in much the same circumstances that cringe might be (but as others mentioned, a kinder term, a more "you're a little out of place" rather than "wow, that was embarrassing for you").
Cringe, as an adjective, is a much newer term. It's a very old word, meaning to wince or back away, usually out of embarrassment. I.e., it historically has been a noun or verb, and something someone does in response to something (it might be something they did, but it's still an action taken as a response (i.e., "I cringed as I realized how badly I had danced that night"). As a modern slang term, it's an adjective that instead refers to the thing that is embarrassing (i.e., "That dance was cringe")
The difference is subtle. In general, corny is not used seriously very much nowadays; in this video it's probably being used to show how out of touch the mother is; that is, "cringe" would work to describe the mother as well, but by using a relatively 'outdated' term, it also shows how outdated the mother is, and comes across as a little less judgy, since it's just her being older and out of touch, and so excusing her.
Corny is like cringe but a bit more sentimental and less mean.
An awkward fortnite dance is “cringe”
A romantic dance that is still embarassing is “corny”
You’d be surprised how much you hear offline nowadays at least from the perspective of younger folk. Cringe is pretty much the go-to for more intense embarassment. I’ve seen some people use it to describe things that they don’t like though that in itself is “cringe” in my opinion. (This dress is so cringe = I don’t like this dress)
I’m aware, but I’ve found that’s mostly from millennials and younger, and you are unlikely to hear the terms from someone 40 years or older, it’s just not in their repertoire
Yes yall right, I'm young. But you people are making the word corny seem like an archaic word yknow. Everybody uses it, even young people use it, even i use it. definitely not a word that ONLY 40+ yo people use.
The word corny was difficult for me to learn, so I kinda just gave up. But I've seen it before and used it before, but sometimes I still get confused about it, that's why I asked
Yeah, I was trying to say that “cringe” is a word that has entered the lexicon of only the youth (for the most part), and that nobody over 40 will say “cringe.” I never said “corny” was superseded by “cringe” in the cultural vocabulary.
"Cringe" is close enough.
"Corny" is like a level or two down from cringe, but it's still pretty much a reaction of "please stop, you're embarrassing yourself"
It’s the old school equivalent.
Like people in the 40s and 50s would say corny. It was still out there in the 60s and after but more often people said their own version — dorky, lame, spacey, whack …
It all just means not cool.
Wow I feel old. Corny is a much older term. At least as old as the 1940s. It means something is overly sentimental, attempting to evoke something that it fails at. A badly acted romance movie might be corny, in that it attempts to elicit emotions but fails at it, but a well acted one wouldn't; it attempts to evoke the same emotions, and succeeds. That said, it's rarely used now, and when it is, yes, oftentimes it's used in much the same circumstances that cringe might be (but as others mentioned, a kinder term, a more "you're a little out of place" rather than "wow, that was embarrassing for you"). Cringe, as an adjective, is a much newer term. It's a very old word, meaning to wince or back away, usually out of embarrassment. I.e., it historically has been a noun or verb, and something someone does in response to something (it might be something they did, but it's still an action taken as a response (i.e., "I cringed as I realized how badly I had danced that night"). As a modern slang term, it's an adjective that instead refers to the thing that is embarrassing (i.e., "That dance was cringe") The difference is subtle. In general, corny is not used seriously very much nowadays; in this video it's probably being used to show how out of touch the mother is; that is, "cringe" would work to describe the mother as well, but by using a relatively 'outdated' term, it also shows how outdated the mother is, and comes across as a little less judgy, since it's just her being older and out of touch, and so excusing her.
Corny is like cringe but a bit more sentimental and less mean. An awkward fortnite dance is “cringe” A romantic dance that is still embarassing is “corny”
Corny is also what you would hear when speaking to anyone over 40 years old. Cringe is a very online-term, but corny is not.
You’d be surprised how much you hear offline nowadays at least from the perspective of younger folk. Cringe is pretty much the go-to for more intense embarassment. I’ve seen some people use it to describe things that they don’t like though that in itself is “cringe” in my opinion. (This dress is so cringe = I don’t like this dress)
I’m aware, but I’ve found that’s mostly from millennials and younger, and you are unlikely to hear the terms from someone 40 years or older, it’s just not in their repertoire
Yeah you’re right, I guess I just automatically assumed OP would be younger because of what they had screencapped.
They likely are, I just wanted to tell this to OP, so that they can understand the difference in register
Yes yall right, I'm young. But you people are making the word corny seem like an archaic word yknow. Everybody uses it, even young people use it, even i use it. definitely not a word that ONLY 40+ yo people use.
Then… why’d you ask?
This guy’s asking the real questions…
The word corny was difficult for me to learn, so I kinda just gave up. But I've seen it before and used it before, but sometimes I still get confused about it, that's why I asked
Yeah, I was trying to say that “cringe” is a word that has entered the lexicon of only the youth (for the most part), and that nobody over 40 will say “cringe.” I never said “corny” was superseded by “cringe” in the cultural vocabulary.
"Cringe" is close enough. "Corny" is like a level or two down from cringe, but it's still pretty much a reaction of "please stop, you're embarrassing yourself"
It’s the old school equivalent. Like people in the 40s and 50s would say corny. It was still out there in the 60s and after but more often people said their own version — dorky, lame, spacey, whack … It all just means not cool.
Corny is lame or hokey like a parent using slang could be, while Cringe makes you grimace and feel embarrassed for the person.
It's worth it to note that in AAVE corny is still commonly used, and can be much stronger than cringe, or lame, or similar words in AAVE