Origin and correct spelling of "scosh"/"scoshe"/"scoche"...?
Peter Nelson
dictionary if you can't spell it" problems.
I wanted to learn the origin of "scoshe" (however it's
spelled). It's a word which means "just a little bit"
and my wife had never heard the term at all.
Thanks in advance for any pointers!
---peter
Mahatma Caine Jeeves
<76c4f8$hh1$1...@strato.ultra.net>...
<<I wanted to learn the origin of "scoshe" (however it's spelled).>>
In case you still want to learn the origin, it's from Japanese
"sukoshi" meaning "small". The first U is often unvoiced, so the
English imitation of it is to drop it altogether, along with the
final vowel. So it's a "skosh".
--
____ Go: It's all fun and games,
(_) /: ,/ till someone loses an eye!
/___/ (_) Steve MacGregor, Phoenix, AZ
-- (Reply to SteveMacGregor at InfiCad dot Com)
Sean Holland
the Japanese "sukoshi", meaning "a little" or "a little bit". In rapid
informal speech it will sound to the English-speaking ear (!) like
"skoshe". Probably brought back to the US by soldiers of the Occupation. I
can remember hearing it in Canada, but my guess is that it's much more
common in the US, for the obvious reason.
In article <76c4f8$hh1$1...@strato.ultra.net>, "Peter Nelson"
<pne...@ultranet.com> wrote:
>This is one of those "how do you look it up in the
>dictionary if you can't spell it" problems.
>
>I wanted to learn the origin of "scoshe" (however it's
>spelled). It's a word which means "just a little bit"
>and my wife had never heard the term at all.
>
>Thanks in advance for any pointers!
>
>---peter
--
Sean
Due to spam filtering, mail from hotmail or prodigy will not reach me.
Sean Holland
Caine Jeeves" <SteveMa...@USA.Net> wrote:
> In case you still want to learn the origin, it's from Japanese
>"sukoshi" meaning "small". The first U is often unvoiced, so the
>English imitation of it is to drop it altogether, along with the
>final vowel. So it's a "skosh".
I am corrected in this NG so often I can't resist putting in my own
pedantic note here. Japanese "sukoshi" does not mean "small". It means "a
little" (a tad, a smidgeon, a bit). Small is "chiisai".
Charles Strauss
>This is one of those "how do you look it up in the
>dictionary if you can't spell it" problems.
>
>I wanted to learn the origin of "scoshe" (however it's
>spelled). It's a word which means "just a little bit"
>and my wife had never heard the term at all.
>
>Thanks in advance for any pointers!
>
>---peter
>
From Japanese "skoshi", meaning "little". First attributed to American troops
enjoying R&R in Japan during the Korean War. I learned all this from one of the
Cecil Adams' "Straight Dope" books.
/C.M. Strauss
Michael Cargal
It's a common term in the US Navy, sometimes combined with "mo" to
make "mo skosh" = quickly. I wonder if the "mo" has a Japanese origin.
--
Michael Cargal car...@cts.com
Sean Holland
Cargal) wrote:
>It's a common term in the US Navy, sometimes combined with "mo" to
>make "mo skosh" = quickly. I wonder if the "mo" has a Japanese origin.
Yep. It has a long [o] (meaning it is said for a relatively long time).
"Moo sukoshi" means "a little more".
Rachel Meredith Kadel-Garcia
>Peter Nelson <pne...@ultranet.com> wrote in article
><76c4f8$hh1$1...@strato.ultra.net>...
>
>
>"sukoshi" meaning "small". The first U is often unvoiced, so the
>English imitation of it is to drop it altogether, along with the
>final vowel. So it's a "skosh".
What does it mean for a U to be unvoiced? Is an unvoiced U different
from another unvoiced vowel? Is it the same as a glottal stop?
Rachel
Sean Holland
>What does it mean for a U to be unvoiced? Is an unvoiced U different
>from another unvoiced vowel? Is it the same as a glottal stop?
>
It's something special that happens in Japanese. What happens is that
all the articulators get ready to say the vowel, and then it doesn't
happen. Its ethereal presence will be felt in how the preceding consonant
is pronounced.
Charles A. Lee
<pne...@ultranet.com> wrote:
>This is one of those "how do you look it up in the
>dictionary if you can't spell it" problems.
>
>I wanted to learn the origin of "scoshe" (however it's
>spelled). It's a word which means "just a little bit"
>and my wife had never heard the term at all.
I proceeded through my unabridged dictionary (RHUD2) beginning as you
did with "sco", then skipped to "sko" - the phonetic approach.
There I found the following:
skosh n. Slang. a bit; a jot; We need just a skosh more room. [< Japn
sukoshi a little (bit)]
Cheers.
Charles A. Lee
http://www.concentric.net/~azcal
================================
= "Nobody goes there anymore; =
= it's too crowded. =
= - Yogi Berra =
================================
Mark Odegard
seho...@islandnet.com (Sean Holland) in
<sehollan-301...@199-175-107-6.islandnet.com> wrote
|In article <slrn78l3ja...@rkadel.ne.mediaone.net>,
|rka...@rkadel.ne.mediaone.net (Rachel Meredith Kadel-Garcia) wrote:
|
|>What does it mean for a U to be unvoiced? Is an unvoiced U different
|>from another unvoiced vowel? Is it the same as a glottal stop?
|>
| It's something special that happens in Japanese. What happens is that
|all the articulators get ready to say the vowel, and then it doesn't
|happen. Its ethereal presence will be felt in how the preceding consonant
|is pronounced.
This is a nice an explanation of what happens to those
later-in-the-word-vowels in Japanese as I've ever seen. A former
Japanese prime minister had the last name 'Takeshita',
pronounced /t&'kESt@/ (tack-kesh-tuh); but to look at it as it
was spelled in the English press, the 'obvious' pronunciation
was scatological.
--
Mark Odegard. (Omit OMIT to email)
Emailed copies of responses are very much appreciated.
Charles Riggs
wrote:
>I proceeded through my unabridged dictionary (RHUD2) beginning as you
>did with "sco", then skipped to "sko" - the phonetic approach.
>
>There I found the following:
>
>skosh n. Slang. a bit; a jot; We need just a skosh more room. [< Japn
>sukoshi a little (bit)]
Of my several dictionaries, only The American Heritage gave a
definition. Shame on those AUEers who deride it.
Charles
Gerald B Mathias
: In article <slrn78l3ja...@rkadel.ne.mediaone.net>,
: rka...@rkadel.ne.mediaone.net (Rachel Meredith Kadel-Garcia) wrote:
: >What does it mean for a U to be unvoiced? Is an unvoiced U different
: >from another unvoiced vowel? Is it the same as a glottal stop?
: >
: It's something special that happens in Japanese. What happens is that
: all the articulators get ready to say the vowel, and then it doesn't
: happen. Its ethereal presence will be felt in how the preceding consonant
: is pronounced.
Which means, Rachel, that "...suk..." in (eastern) Japanese is pronounced
almost exactly like "...sk..." in English.
B(utting in again)art
Mahatma Caine Jeeves
article <slrn78l3ja...@rkadel.ne.mediaone.net>...
<<What does it mean for a U to be unvoiced? Is an unvoiced U
different from another unvoiced vowel? Is it the same as a glottal
stop?>>
It means you make only an S sound, but do it with your lips in
place for making a U sound. Similarly, the syllable "shi" often has
an unvoiced I before an unvoiced consonant. The SH is pronounced
with the lips in place for making an I sound.
--
(Reply to SteveMacGregor at InfiCad dot Com)
---------------------------------------------------------
Whom are you going to call? GRAMMAR BUSTERS!!!
---------------------------------------------------------
Gerald B Mathias
: Rachel Meredith Kadel-Garcia <rka...@rkadel.ne.mediaone.net> wrote in
: article <slrn78l3ja...@rkadel.ne.mediaone.net>...
: <<What does it mean for a U to be unvoiced? Is an unvoiced U
: different from another unvoiced vowel? Is it the same as a glottal
: stop?>>
: It means you make only an S sound, but do it with your lips in
: place for making a U sound. Similarly, the syllable "shi" often has
: an unvoiced I before an unvoiced consonant. The SH is pronounced
: with the lips in place for making an I sound.
: --
Now we're probably confusing Rachel.
Rachel, an unvoiced sound is very much like a whispered sound. Although
there is a phonetic difference between devoicing and whispering, all
whispered sounds are in fact unvoiced. But many sounds are also naturally
unvoiced in normal speech, such as the sounds usually most associated with
"p, t, k, s, sh, f, ch."
In most dialects of Japanese, the vowels written "i" and "u" normally
become devoiced between unvoiced consonants (so will the other three
vowels sometimes). At least that is the simple form of the rule. What
causes confusion is that in reality, the "i" and "u" typically show up
only in lip configuration when they *follow* "s, sh, f," or "ch." There
is no vowel sound there, voiced or unvoiced.
Thus, takusan has an unvoiced "u"; sukoshi does not have anything between
the long "u"-shaped "s" and the "k."
Bart Mathias
Skitt
Charles Riggs wrote in message <36be130c...@news.anu.ie>...
The almost never failing MWCD10 says:
Main Entry: skosh
Pronunciation: 'skOsh
Function: noun
Etymology: Japanese sukoshi
Date: 1952
: a small amount : BIT, SMIDGEN -- used adverbially with a <just a skosh bit
shook -- Josiah Bunting>
--
Skitt http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/5537/
If you are posting a reply, please, do not email it. It just confuses me.