2007-01-04 23:07:42 · 5 answers · asked by gottingerpali 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
I'm translating a play... don't worry.
2007-01-04 23:14:33 · update #1
It basically means a person is a bit slow and clumsy.
2007-01-04 23:10:30 · answer #1 · answered by julia 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm Irish myself so I don't know whether dozy is standard english or just irish-english! I think it's used in England as well though....To doze means to sleep very lightly. Also if you were to say that you were just dozing off then that means that you were just on the point of falling asleep. If you call someone "dozy" it is a gentle way of saying that they are being a bit stupid i.e. acting like they're half-asleep!
2007-01-04 23:13:23 · answer #2 · answered by fatso 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This Site Might Help You.
RE:
What does it mean "dozy" in English? Or is that Irish-English? I'm not a native speaker.?
2015-08-08 23:39:30 · answer #3 · answered by Ely 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The rest of the answers are close, but not entirely correct. FWIW, I'm a native English speaker. A "native" speaker of any language is a person who has learned the language as a child. The human brain is built to learn a language. Children learn a language without instruction- they don't memorize vocabulary, study verbs and modifiers, etc. They just learn and speak the language like natives. Parents speak, the child listens and understands. This is the comprehension and performance part of any language. (Reading and writing are a different matter.) Linguistically, the age of maturity is about fourteen. Let's say a child learns a language well enough to learn to read and write. Most linguists agree that children know a language like a "native speaker" by the time they start school. They understand the structure, phonetics and morphemics. When a child starts school, it's to learn to read and write, not learn the local language. Let's also say you take a first grader and move him/her in another country where different language is spoken. He/she'll be in innumerable situations where the second language is available. Fortunately for him/her, he hasn't yet hit his linguistic maturity, so his/her brain has the ability to learn this language in the same manner as he/she did the first time- by listening and putting the sounds in context. Since this kid has already internalized one language, the concepts of language are already in his head, but his/her brain is capable of learning yet another. Let's keep this kid in country two for a few more years. Move him/her to a third country (as long as he/she's not yet fourteen) and he/she will learn a third language as any child does. So, IMHO, though most children learn their native language as their first language, this isn't necessarily so. I think a child could learn several languages, and be a "native speaker" in each. This contrasts with adults who become fairly proficient, but only by memorizing vocabulary, finding verb tenses, etc. One informal but widely-accepted test of which is your "native language" is to see what language you curse in, as when you smack your finger with a hammer.
2016-03-15 09:44:12 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
erm.. it means that your a bit dumb or 'slack' or no quite with whats happening.. usually used in a sentence like 'you dozy cow' wich could also be 'you dumb cow' if you get that lol? :) x
2007-01-04 23:10:30 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋