corny adj.
1. sentimental, naïve, unsophisticated.
Melody Maker June 511: The ‘bounce’ of the brass section [...] has degenerated into a definitely ‘corny’ and staccato style of playing. | ||
Strip Tease 37: ‘Jokes are “corny” [...] old-timey’. | ||
High Window 26: ‘I love my wife,’ he said suddenly, and showed me the hard white edges of his teeth. ‘A corny touch, but it’s true.’. | ||
On The Road (1972) 251: In the East they make cracks and corny jokes and obvious references. | ||
All Night Stand 47: Corny, but what else to mention? | ||
Inside the Und. 54: Sometimes a story is told one which is so corny. | ||
Totally True Diaries of an Eighties Roller Queen 🌐 2 Jan. I got this really mushy, corny and stupid letter in the mail today from Steve M. I only like him as a friend. Every time I read it I cracked up laughing. | ||
What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] I’m a corny, flag-waving patriot. | ‘So Why Doesn’t Jack the Lad Get a Real Job?’ in||
Pulp Fiction [film script] 41: It’s [i.e. a joke] really corny. | ||
Guardian Guide 3-9 July 54: The story is 100 per cent corny vaudeville. | ||
Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] The singer’s act was that corny, you could have boxed it and sold it for breakfast cereal. | ||
Robbers (2001) 342: Only nowadays, he said, people think that kind of scene is corny, a tired cliche. | ||
Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] He still, remembered most of the corny names and places. | ||
(con. 1962) Enchanters 200: He’s here to croon his corny repertoire. |
2. simple, obvious.
Never Come Morning (1988) 168: You told us that one. We heard all your corny riddles, Hon. | ||
On the Waterfront (1964) 26: It sounds kinda corny, but . . . | ||
‘Weekend’ unpub. thesis in Hewitt (2000) 134: We get Rikki, who cracks a few corny jokes, everyone boos and whistles madly. | ||
Semi-Tough 207: Nobody wanted to do anything, she said, but eat and drink and smoke dope, which was corny. | ||
Botanist at Bay 162: This is the corniest police trap I ever heard of. | ||
Cartoon City 33: He had followed her around [...] cracking corny jokes to get her to giggle some more. | ||
Rubdown [ebook] ‘I peak Vietnamese Cantonese, Mandarin [...]’ ‘Talk about a cunning linguist.’ I know, it was corny. | ||
Week 8 Jan. 25/1: The ‘flimsy’ plot is ‘sub-Pygmalion’ and the gags are corny. |
3. rural, socially backward.
Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 165: His corny-looking hat, the brim of which was too wide. | ||
On the Waterfront (1964) 162: Tarrytown [...] I’ll bet that’s a real corny joint. | ||
Family Arsenal 158: You don’t think it’s corny? I always wanted to live in the country. | ||
Indep. on Sun. 17 Oct. 23: They say something corny like [...] ‘Stick ’em up.’ Nobody says that anymore. | ||
(con. 1975–6) Steel Toes 146: You about a corny motherfucker. |
4. banal.
What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 81: The producer plays tough. All he says is corny, stinks or 1902. | ||
Long Good-Bye 5: He strolled off [...] not even bothering to look towards the Rolls-Royce. He probably thought it was corny. | ||
Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (1966) 38: Singers like Frank Sinatra, all that corny nostalgia. | ||
Start in Life (1979) 182: There was a striptease joint where men peeled off to the buff in some corny act or other. | ||
(con. 1930s–60s) Guilty of Everything (1998) 245: This sounds corny [...] but when it comes to whether a guy is black or white, it never made much difference to me. | ||
Rivethead (1992) 160: The messages they would flash ranged from corny propaganda [...] to motivational pep squawk. | ||
Conversation with the Mann 83: We would [...] catch the other acts, joke to each other about the ones we thought corny. | ||
Apples (2023) 14: I said something corny to Ben. | ||
Running the Books 139: Television was corny, the street was much more entertaining. | ||
Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 151: Cause the shit [i.e. a bad pun] was corny. |
In derivatives
(US black) inferior, second-rate.
Check the Technique 291: ‘I told my moms that I wanted turntables for Christmas [...] and she bought me some corny-ass ones’. |