Source of "scooch"

[Mike Salovesh]

Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

> SCOOCH
>
>     I was looking for "Tex-Mex" when I found "scooch" (DARE?) instead.  From
> READER'S DIGEST, June 1970, pg. 161, col. 2:
>
>      "But don't you think that this one is just a scooch too much?"
>      "What's a scooch?" I asked.
>      "Why," she said, "that's Texas talk for just a bit more than a smitch."
>      I was still mulling this over when the stewardess asked me if I would
> care for a drink.  "Well," I said, "maybe just a scooch of Scotch."
>      "Why, you wonderful Yankee!" she gushed.  "Where did you learn to talk
> Texas lahk that?"
>       "Honey," I replied, winking at my neighbor, "doesn't everyone?"

Sorry, Barry, that's NOT Texas talk.  Not in its origins, anyway. I
think the giveaway is in the "a scooch" construction.

That points to origins in either the U.S. occupation of Japan or the
Korean War. The original would be spelled SUKOSHI in Japanese Romaji,
their adaptation of a standard European alphabet. "Sukoshi" means "a
little", "a small amount", as opposed to "chisai", "little", "small".

Pronunciation/orthography note: Japanese orthography emphasizes a
tendency toward CV (consonant plus vowel) syllable construction.
Japanese pronunciation, however, frequently does include close
approximations of consonant clusters.

In this case, the apparent three-syllable construction implied by
written SUKOSHI sounds to Western ears like a one or two syllable word.
The orthographic U elides, and what remains is a cluster of S plus K.
The vowel of the unstressed second syllable is quite short, and may even
be unvoiced.  (I don't happen to have a Japanese-speaking informant
handy, so I can't check my vague memory that the "shi" syllable might
involve an ingressive airstream.)

Given your fondness for recipes and food words, Barry, you probably know
about SUKIYAKI as a word. Its initial sound exactly parallels the word
"sukoshi". Despite the appearance of the Romaji spelling, the word
"sukiyaki" has three syllables, not four.  Once more, when orthographic
"su" plus "kV" is pronounced, rather than spelled, the "u" elides and
the remainder sounds like a cluster of s plus k.

Oyasumi nasai, Barry-chan.

Ooops!  I just looked out the window.  It's just about dawn, so I
shouldn't be saying "good evening".  Daijobe, OK -- Ohayo gozaimasu.

-- mike salovesh    <salovesh at niu.edu>  PEACE !!!

PS:  If anyody out there actually speaks Japanese, gomenasai, ne.
Watakushiwa nihongoka wakarimasen.  Watakushiwa gaijin desu.