So, somebody - I already forgot who, sorry - posted about the latest episode of Severance

[conuly]

and pointed out that it was directed by somebody from Quebec, which is (apparently) unsurprising, as it seemed Quebecish. That's my word, not theirs, and that's why I am posting, because as soon as the word "Quebecish" popped into my head so did "Quebecy". And, for that matter, so did "It's a very Quebec sort of episode", which is a different way to form the same adjective.

Which left me wondering how, exactly, English speakers know which formation to pick when neologizing. This is not a question you can simply answer, unfortunately, because whatever you think you're doing, you're bound to be wrong when you try to explain it.

Still, I'll take everybody's wild guesses and speculation, just for kicks.

Comments

[silveradept]

I've been close enough to Canada for my entire life that "Québécois" doesn't sound wrong to me, but I would probably have gone for the construction "Québec-like" over any of the others, as, for me, that indicates the strongest degree of similarity. "Quebec-y" is "definitely in the ballpark, but not fully the thing" and "Québec-ish" is "matches someone's conception of Québec, may not actually match in any way more than the surface." I'm sure the linguist can explain to me why I do that, but I haven't a clue myself.