A person who is noted for being mardy – that is to say demonstratively miserable. Being depressed doesn'
t count – the mardy
arse revels in unhappiness and broadcasts it via sulking, moaning, whingeing and (in the case of children) crying at the drop of a hat. An element of paranoia will generally be present; the mardy
arse permanently feels
hard done-to.
Perhaps the key difference between grumpy and mardy is that the former involves more anger and the latter more self-pity. However, in an almost bipolar way, the mardy
arse will tend to be someone who mood-swings from mardy to lary – from surly/resentful to surly/aggressive – often when alcohol has been added as a catalyst.
The term is a coarser and therefore more emphatic version of mardy
bum (the '
bum' in this sense referring to the buttocks, not a beggar or hobo, and '
arse' being a less polite word than '
bum'). It
may be heard in the same Derbyshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire zone of the English East Midlands where mardy is commonplace, though principally the city of Leicester.