ISHT

[Beverly Flanigan]

I never did say it in nice company--I just hate the sound of it!

But you're right, the adjective use is common too, usually as "ishy."

At 04:14 PM 3/10/2005, you wrote:
>How about those folks from Minnesota who have been saying 'ish' for
>generations?  They won't be able to say it in nice company anymore, will they?
>
>The Minnesota 'ish' is not the same as the one being discussed, but can be
>used as both an adjective and exclamation, altho both indicate
>disagreeableness.
>Fritz
>
>and. as larry horn is about to observe in the very next ADS posting,
>his yale students have been reporting (spoken) slang "ish" for "shit"
>for some years.  (i agree with larry that this is probably a
>cluster-simplified version of "isht".)  quite
>probably taboo avoidance, but of the everybody-gets-it sort, as with
>"freakin'" and "friggin'" etc. for "fuckin'" (see The F-Word for plenty
>of examples).
>
>some of the users might not even see the "shit" in "ish".
>
>arnold