>That's a phrase I found myself using the other day. Growing up with English parents it seemed completely natural but then I wondered what does "tatty" actually mean?
>
>The verb "to tat" means to make lace; maybe it refers to a lacy/holey/worn appearance?
>
>Can the English contingent shed any light on this pressing issue? ;)
>
>UPDATE: apparently "tatty" is a dictionary word for "shabby/dilapidated". That was news to me; I thought the phrase was an English colloquialism.

Tatty (to me) means unkempt, not looked after. Something can be worn but not tatty OTOH something quite new can be tatty