I think poorly-as-adjective sounds uneducated Culturally insensitive, I'm afraid!
It isn't an education thing, I think, but class. I don't think I'd say "My stomach is poorly", which sounds like a person being euphemistic about what's actually wrong; it would always be "my stomach is [specific]" or "I was poorly yesterday - I had a dreadful stomachache"; but poorly = unwell is actually a higher social class indicator than sick = unwell (as opposed to sick = nauseous, where ill = nauseous is lower social class again). At least according to Nancy Mitford...
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branchandroot
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Date: 2007-05-29 01:31 pm (UTC)Culturally insensitive, I'm afraid!
It isn't an education thing, I think, but class. I don't think I'd say "My stomach is poorly", which sounds like a person being euphemistic about what's actually wrong; it would always be "my stomach is [specific]" or "I was poorly yesterday - I had a dreadful stomachache"; but poorly = unwell is actually a higher social class indicator than sick = unwell (as opposed to sick = nauseous, where ill = nauseous is lower social class again). At least according to Nancy Mitford...