27

In the movie "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" Jake was saved by the peculiar children while he was into a pub. An invisible child made pots and glasses fly all around and another start a fire on the pub's door.

At about 36 minutes of the movie there's a dialogue:

a child:

Miss Peregrine, there's a policeman at the door. He says it's about the pub!

Miss Peregrine turns a blind look to Emma (hope my English is correct here) and says:

We'll discuss this later, Emma.

then goes into the house.

Jack says:

It wasn't their fault. Honestly, they were just trying to help.

Emma smiles. Miss Peregrine smiles too, then go away.

After Miss Peregrine has left, Emma says:

Thanks. You're not as wet as I thought.

What does it mean "wet" in this context?

Improve this question
2

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
40

Being wet, in this case, means having a weak character. Emma is admitting that she thought that Jake would not have the courage to admit that it was he who made the mistake.

wet adjective (weak) UK
​
Used to describe someone who has a weak character and does not express any forceful opinions:

Don't be so wet.

Cambridge Dictionary

Improve this answer
14
  • 10
    I think this is pretty strongly a UK usage. I haven't heard it in this sense in AmE. Although we do use "wet blanket"
    – ColleenV
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 12:28
  • 2
    I didn't realise that the author is American. The usage (in the UK) probably comes from wet blanket, anyway.
    – Mick
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 12:31
  • 7
    Until I read this answer, I assumed it was short for "wet behind the ears", meaning new and inexperienced.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 14:38
  • 2
    It was also famously used in this sense by Margaret Thatcher.
    – peterG
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 15:50
  • 3
    @pjc50 I don't think it is by any means "basically obsolete", it was used at my secondary school, sixth form, and right through university, often morphed into "you wetty", or the like.
    – ollie299792458
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 16:28
4

Wet in this context means weak-willed, or having no grit or strength of character. It's an extension of the idea expressed by the adjective "drippy", or in UK English, being a "drip".

(In the 1980s, the members of the UK Conservative party who were unsure of the speed and pace of the changes being introduced by then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were disparagingly referred to as Wets. The idea being the same. So I infer that the term wets dates back to at least the 1980s. Personally it has the feel of a 1950s school term, but that's just my native speaker intuition making a claim.)

Improve this answer
1
  • Per OED, the meaning of wet as weak or ineffectual dates back at least to 1916. It includes a description of the 1980s political usage as well.
    – barbecue
    Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 15:13

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .