Sukosi

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>When did this item enter English? Is it a WWII, Korean War, or later
>(or earlier) loan?

In US military slang it dates from the occupation of Japan, i.e., probably
from about 1945 given the nature of the word. The earliest I find it in
on-line US newspaper search is 1951, spelled "sukoshi", "skoshi", and "skosh".

I suspect it was known in Hawaii earlier ... but Hawaii wasn't a state yet.
I suppose maybe it's still much more common on the west coast than elsewhere.

See my recent posts on "nitnoi"/"nitnoy"/"nitnoid" for the comparable (but
not exactly parallel) adoption of the Thai synonym from ca. 1970.

-- Doug Wilson