[Ads-l] smidget
Laurence Horn
laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Wed Dec 6 01:37:20 UTC 2023
> On Dec 5, 2023, at 5:55 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> 'Smidgen.'
>
> MSNBC:
>
> That was just a smidget of what she had to say.
>
> JL
> --
A purported regionalism cited in DARE according to this OUP blog:
https://blog.oup.com/2012/04/smidget-regional-terms-american-english/ <https://blog.oup.com/2012/04/smidget-regional-terms-american-english/>
smidget
Like smidge, this southern word always means a tiny amount of something, often food. Citations show people discussing smidgets of corn, cake, cream, trouble, and other delicacies.
The full entry in DARE (with no regional annotation) is:
A small amount; a small piece (of food).
So I guess the question is whether the full amount of “what she had to say” would count as a delicacy.
LH
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list