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nice-nellyism
Or Ծ-··
[nahys-nel-ee-iz-uhm]
noun
excessive modesty; prudishness.
a euphemism.
an evasive style of writing, full of circumlocutions and nice-nellyisms.
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51Թ History and Origins
Origin of nice-nellyism1
First recorded in 1935–40; nice nelly + -ism
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Example Sentences
Examples have not been reviewed.
In fact, gobbledygook and nice-Nellyism still extend as far as the ear can hear.
Partridge clears Charles Dickens of all responsibility for the expression "go to the dickens," a Victorian nice-nellyism for "go to the devil."
Timmons insists that the expletive the reporters thought they heard was merely a nice-Nellyism from his Nebraska days: "Helen Maria!"
Within two months of this Nice-Nellyism, the song's sale rose to 50,000 copies.
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