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On a personal note, I detest the use of "-wise" to coin new words. It has an ugly sound, and tends to be used in places where a perfectly good word or phrase already exists.
However, in informal speech, almost anything goes, I suppose. I do cringe, internally, when other people use the form, but I hope I don't let it show.
So far as "street-wise" is concerned, this is an entirely different usage, for which I can see no real objection. It has the meaning of "wise in the way that life is lived in a particular context", whereas the suffix of which I have just complained (somewhat tetchily, I fear!) has the meaning of "tending towards" or "having to do with," or possible "matters concerning."
E.g., "He is a smooth operator, business-wise" means that he has a certain amount of acumen in matters concerning business. (There is, I suppose, a faint connotation that he is such a smooth operator in other aspects of life!)
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wise guy
belligerentyouth 05/22/2001 1:46 PM ![]()
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RhubarbCommando 05/23/2001 8:19 AM ![]()
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Max Quordlepleen 05/23/2001 8:23 AM ![]()
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wow 05/23/2001 2:15 PM ![]()
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Bobyoungbalt 05/23/2001 3:42 PM ![]()
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slovovoi 05/23/2001 2:12 PM ![]()
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rodward 05/23/2001 3:28 PM ![]()
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Sparteye 05/23/2001 6:42 PM ![]()
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of troy 05/23/2001 7:32 PM ![]()
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NicholasW 05/24/2001 1:21 PM ![]()
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belligerentyouth 05/25/2001 9:35 AM ![]()
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ammelah 05/24/2001 4:03 PM ![]()
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wow 05/24/2001 4:06 PM ![]()
Wise guise
musick 05/24/2001 5:17 PM ![]()
Re: wise guy
tsuwm 05/27/2001 5:17 PM
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