Literary notes about Touchy (AI summary)
The word “touchy” is employed in literature to evoke a range of delicate emotional states and temperaments. Authors use it to describe characters who are easily irritable or offended, as when someone’s pride or sensitivity is highlighted ([1], [2], [3]), while in other contexts it underscores an almost tangible responsiveness or fragility, whether in a person's disposition ([4], [5]) or even in a physical object’s behavior ([6], [7]). It frequently appears in dialogue to signal interpersonal tension or reluctance to engage in contentious subjects ([8], [9]), and can carry a humorous or ironic tone when remarking on a character’s overreaction or self-consciousness ([10], [11]). This versatility enriches character portrayals and underlines complex interactions in varied narrative settings.
- “There now, put all that touchy pride in your pocket, Roderick.
— from The Treasure of Hidden Valley by Willis George Emerson - I was naturally touchy, or it would not have vexed me so much.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - ‘Do, pray, try not to be so touchy—there’s no speaking to you else.
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë - She was seventeen, touchy, full of spirits, and very moody: quick to flush, and always uneasy, uncertain.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - You ought not to be touchy about that still.
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy - Light, speedy, almost “touchy” in its easy response to control, the Dart, on the other hand, lacked that safety margin.
— from The Ghost of Mystery Airport by Van Powell - p. 115: "The `touchy' mare gave so sudden a `prop,' accompanied by a desperate plunge, that he was thrown."
— from Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia by Edward Ellis Morris - "Steer it clear," said Algy, "of the touchy topic."
— from Jill the Reckless by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse - Washington, the New Deal and the present Administration are somewhat touchy subjects to the men I have to deal with.
— from The Snowball Effect by Katherine MacLean - You are pretending to be touchy; but you are not really.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster - It was also observed during those two or three days that he was in a state of morbid self-esteem, and was specially touchy on all points of honour.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
