Sukosi

[Wilson Gray]

On Aug 21, 2004, at 8:04 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Sukosi
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>> When did this item enter English? Is it a WWII, Korean War, or later
>> (or earlier) loan?
>
> In US military

That's "military" in the broad sense, since it's also in common use
among (former) sailors and marines who have served in the Far East.

-Wilson Gray

>  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
>