Learn English – the US English for “soppy”

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According to the online Cambridge Dictionary, in British English the word soppy means:

showing or feeling too much of emotions such as love or sympathy,
rather than being reasonable or practical: a film with a soppy ending

That's one of the soppiest stories I've ever heard! Some people are
really soppy about their pets.

Or as an alternative definition, the OED offers:

Full of mawkish sentiment; foolishly affectionate; inane, indulgent;
occas. used affectionately.

Is there an equivalent US English word?

The story so far…

It seems that the usage of soppy to describe a person is that one that is hardest to translate to US English. Would a US English person understand "She is very soppy when it comes to her children." and if not, is there a US English equivalent? It seems so far that you can't say "She is very sappy/saccharine when it comes to her children." and have a similar meaning.

Best Answer

Initially, I assumed that the AmE sappy was merely a varied spelling of the BrE soppy. However, tchrist alerted me to some difficulties with that assumption and, in fact, according to etymonline, soppy (originally) was in reference to the quality of excessive wetness (and in AmE: sopping or soaking wet), while sappy appears to be a reference to tree sap. Despite their disparate origins, it seems the two words have evolved to share the sense of excessive sentimentality.

sappy adjective

3a: overly sweet or sentimental

3b: lacking in good sense: silly

(Merriam-Webster online)

soppy (adj.) "very wet," 1823, from sop + -y (2). Meaning "sentimental" first recorded 1918. Related: Soppiness.

sappy (adj.) "full of sap," Late Old English sæpig, from sæp (see sap (n.1)). Figurative sense of "foolishly sentimental" (1660s) may have developed from an intermediate sense of "wet, sodden" (late 15c.). Earlier, now obsolete, figurative senses were "full of vitality" (1550s) and "immature" (1620s). (etymonline)

sap (n.2) "simpleton," 1815, originally especially in Scottish and English schoolboy slang, probably from earlier sapskull (1735), saphead (1798), from sap as a shortened form of sapwood "soft wood between the inner bark and the heartwood" (late 14c.), from sap (n.1) + wood (n.); so called because it conducts the sap; compare sappy. (etymonline)

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