Questions for our US posters about the word "tony". I've encountered several instances of writers in the US using the word "tony" to describe affluent (or very affluent?) neighbourhoods/residential areas. I have never heard that adjective in the UK, ever. Not sure it exists in British English.
So, two questions:
1. What exactly does it mean? Are the connotations purely economic, as in "where the wealthy live", or does it have some more nuanced, partly cultural or political, connotations?
2. What's the etymology? Is it related to the noun "tone", as in perhaps "having a good tone", or does it have some other derivation altogether?
So, two questions:
1. What exactly does it mean? Are the connotations purely economic, as in "where the wealthy live", or does it have some more nuanced, partly cultural or political, connotations?
2. What's the etymology? Is it related to the noun "tone", as in perhaps "having a good tone", or does it have some other derivation altogether?
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