beady eyes

[Opinicus]

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beady

So much I understand. But why does "beady-eyed" have such negative
connotations in English?

[Patok]

Post by Opinicus
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beady
So much I understand. But why does "beady-eyed" have such negative
connotations in English?

It does? Bit if so, maybe because of who has beady eyes - vermin usually.

[Farmer Giles]

Post by Patok

Post by Opinicus
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beady
So much I understand. But why does "beady-eyed" have such negative
connotations in English?

It does? Bit if so, maybe because of who has beady eyes - vermin usually.

You're probably too young to remember the Army Game, or Bootsy and Snudge!

[Farmer Giles]

Post by Farmer Giles

Post by Patok

Post by Opinicus
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beady
So much I understand. But why does "beady-eyed" have such negative
connotations in English?

It does? Bit if so, maybe because of who has beady eyes - vermin usually.

You're probably too young to remember the Army Game, or Bootsy and Snudge!

Might have been 'Bootsie'

[Patok]

Post by Farmer Giles

Post by Opinicus
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beady
So much I understand. But why does "beady-eyed" have such negative
connotations in English?

It does? But if so, maybe because of who has beady eyes - vermin
usually.

You're probably too young to remember the Army Game, or Bootsy and Snudge!

I looked them up. Maybe too young, just a bit. But that's not the reason I didn't
know about them, but because I'm a furriner. Anyhow, what do Bootsie and Snudge have
to do with "beady eyes"?

[Farmer Giles]

Post by Patok

Post by Farmer Giles

Post by Opinicus
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beady
So much I understand. But why does "beady-eyed" have such negative
connotations in English?

It does? But if so, maybe because of who has beady eyes - vermin
usually.

You're probably too young to remember the Army Game, or Bootsy and Snudge!

I looked them up. Maybe too young, just a bit. But that's not the reason
I didn't know about them, but because I'm a furriner. Anyhow, what do
Bootsie and Snudge have to do with "beady eyes"?

Those programmes were very popular in the UK in the late 50s early 60s -
with B & S being a spin-off from the Army Game. The expression 'beady eyes'
became almost a national expression because one of the characters, played by
Alfie Bass, always said that the other, played by Bill Fraser, had 'orrible
beady eyes'. Bill Fraser was the authoritative sergeant major in the Army
Game and Alfie Bass one of the hapless, and hopeless, privates - their
respective roles were replicated somewhat in the later Bootsie and Snudge.
Whenever Sergeant Major Snudge told his charges that he suspected they were
up to something he would say 'I've got my beady eyes on you lot'. I was at
school at the time, and we would use the expression a lot to let someone
know we thought they were up to something - even our teachers used it
occasionally!

[CDB]

Post by Opinicus
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beady
So much I understand. But why does "beady-eyed" have such negative
connotations in English?

There are other definitions, like this one at OneLook: "beady-eyed:
having eyes that gleam with malice". To me, the expression in that
use connotes the concentrated attention a predator gives to the prey
it is stalking: a fixed facial expression, rather than a physical
characteristic, implying suspect motives or even harmful intent.
http://www.onelook.com/?w=beady-eyed&ls=a

[Daniel James]

... why does "beady-eyed" have such negative connotations in English?

I don't think it does, particularly. There may be contexts in which
someone might be referred to as "beady-eyed" is they were thought to be
scrutinizing something more closely than they should ... but I would
not have thought that such a context was typical for the phrase.

In general I think that to call someone beady-eyed is merely to suggest
that they have keen eyesight or good powers of observation, which is
surely a positive rather than a negative comment.

If I had written something and wanted a friend or colleague to
proofread it for errors I might ask "would you mind casting your beady
eyes over that?" with the implied compliment that I thought the person
in question would quickly spot any error I might have made.

Cheers,
Daniel.