Etymology of Skosh

[J. Eulenberg]

The only person I've ever heard use this expression is my western Canadian
friend.  Now I have to wonder where she picked it up!

Julia Niebuhr Eulenberg <eulenbrg at u.washington.edu>

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       RonButters at AOL.COM
> Subject:      Etymology of Skosh
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In a message dated 8/21/04 7:42:43 PM, preston at MSU.EDU writes:
>
>
> > Sure nuff; "Skosh" is spelled "skosh" in English (e.g., AHD4) and
> > noted as derived from Japanese "sukoshi" (thanks arnold), but the era
> > of borrowing is not noted.
> >=20
> > dInIs
> >=20
> AH4 may not have the origin, but New Oxford American Dictionary does (of=20
> course):
>
> skosh ...  n. informal a small amount; a little.
> =E2=80=93PHRASES a skosh somewhat; slightly: it=E2=80=99s a skosh
> more formal than one might like.
> =E2=80=93ORIGIN 1950s: from Japanese sukoshi.
> .
>