"Tad bit"--("tee-nine-shih")

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Here's a possibility:
  The first two syllables ("tee-nine") may be blended from "teeny" + "tiny" (TEEN- from "teeny" and -IN- from "tiny"). As for "-shih" my guess (and it's only a guess) is that we deal with an alteration of  the "-tsy" in "teentsy," "eentsy," "tinetsy," etc.  The "ts" became blurred to "sh" (are there other examples of this?) and for the final vowel cf. Missouri/Missour-uh, Ohio/Ohi-uh, Cincinnati/Cincinnat-uh.
    So perhaps the blend comes ultimately from "teentsy" + "tinetsy."
 
Gerald Cohen
P.S. In my earlier message I should have said that the two forms which blended to give "tinetsy" were "tiny" + a form like "teentsy" or "eentsy-weentsy."  

________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Wilson Gray
Sent: Sun 8/13/2006 10:28 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Tad bit"



And there's "tee-nine-shih," common among both black speakers and
white speakers in the South, or in Texas, at least. I don't know what
it might be a blend of, if it is one.

-Wilson

On 8/10/06, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at umr.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Tad bit"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Or more specifically, it started as a blend: from "a tad" + "a little =
> bit."  Evidently there are several examples of blends involving the =
> expression of something very small, e.g. "teeny" from "tiny" + "wee"; =
> "tinetsy" from "tiny" + "teeny". =20
> =20
> Gerald Cohen


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