another suffix freely worded (ish)

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Thu, Sep 05, 2002 at 10:01:00PM -0400, Laurence Horn wrote:
[...]
>
> What makes this especially interesting for our purposes is that while
> some (including me) would consider this "ish" to be derivational, it
> doesn't change category (at least in contexts like "obsessive-ish"
> where it attaches to adjectives) and in other ways is a plausible
> candidate for an inflectional affix.  I wonder, though whether it can
> be used even by someone like Mr. Langmead without an immediate
> triggering context, although it has to be admitted that the
> connection here (to "Wallpaper-ish") is somewhat oblique.  Is anyone
> more familiar than I am with this "international shorthand" and its
> distribution?

I'm not familiar enough with its distribution to make any sort of
comment, but my wife uses the construction frequently, in more
oblique contexts than in the Times article Larry posts, e.g.
"How hungry are you?" "Ish."

We also have a few examples at OED, ranging from the less striking
("...wiping it dry. Ish.") to the more ("Are you OK?"..."Ish.")
But it's not overwhelmingly common in our files.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED