If a Brit (like me) uses the word, we're probably dressed up in old-fashioned clothes and trying to sound authentic while serving cakes to the LARP group. Or running a traditional restaurant/café[1].
I couldn't give a good definition without referring to a dictionary.
Indian English retains several archaic terms, little used since the early 20th century. An Indian probably can give a good definition.
[1] https://theoriginalmaidsofhonour.co.uk/collections/types?q=S...
Re:The Awful German Language (1880)
by cameronh90 on Sunday May 16, 2021 @06:06PM
(#27177475)
As a Brit, I've never heard of sweetmeats. Is it not an American thing?
Americans have an odd view of the UK that merges both historical periods and regions. We are just likely to consider something we read in a Jane Austin novel British (which it might indeed have been ... 1-200 years ago!) as more recent media like the film Notting Hill.
My understanding is that sweetmeat is just an older word for candy, sweets or confections, archaic to both the UK and US english.
I don't understand the connotation of the word, as much as the meaning of it.