Poor Old

it just seems so odd that something which is meant to be an expression of fondness and sympathy should be basically calling someone indigent and aged!

Rich young Johnny Ray!

exactly! This occurred to me while watching "Who Wants To be a Millionaire", ironically. A contestant (we'll call him Joe Bloggs) had just decided to take the money at £16,000 even tho he had a strong inkling abt the answer to the next question. As it happened, his hunch was correct. Later in the show, Chris Tarrant referred to him as "poor old Joe Bloggs".

it's affectionate derision, like "you chump"

i think it proposes an intimacy — you're assuming the RIGHT to tease someone — which has to imply fondness

(unfond useage = obviously sarcastic usage)

do you think the British 'do' affectionate derision more than ppl of other nations, or does it just seem that way? It's certainly prevalent here, but why?

An American colleague told me that one of the things she found most difficult to come to terms with when she moved to the UK was the way that ppl might say, for example, "You bastard!" in an affectionate derisory way whereas (she claimed) back home she only heard it used in a serious aggressive way.

maybe ppl hated her in america?