What it means
A not-so-friendly Cornish word for a tourist, especially the summer lot who arrive in packs, march around with cameras, and wedge big cars down tiny lanes. Locals use it when they're fed up with the crowds and the chaos they bring. It comes from Cornish for ant, which fits, because they seem to swarm everywhere.
Usage examples
"Took me half an hour to get off the A30, then some emmets parked on the corner and blocked the lane again."
"St Ives is rammed with emmets in August, you can't get within a mile of the harbour without queueing."
"The emmets are coming next weekend, I'm doing the big food shop on Friday to avoid the chaos in Tesco."
Where it comes from
From Old English "ǣmette" (ant), the same root that gave standard English "ant" via a different path. Cornish locals kept the older form for the insect and applied it metaphorically in the 20th century to the swarming summer tourists who descend on Newquay, St Ives and Padstow once the schools break up: thousands of small bodies moving in busy lines, clutching cones of chips and Cornish pasties. The word stings just enough to make the point.
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