[Lexicog] Re: Synonymy

[Rudolph C Troike]

I shared some of our discussion of "little" vs "small" with some
colleagues in the English department here, and one responded with the
following interesting comments:


Thanks, Rudy.  Though I'm reminded that, when it comes to actual usage,
things get fuzzier.  We're comfortable using the phrase, "He was a man of
little patience" in formal writing.  In that instance and others like it,
"little" has a quantitative meaning.  "Land of Little Rain," is very
different from "And the small rain did fall."  And, as you and I discussed
in our brief conversation today, we often mix big/large, little/small in
the same register: we say "a big-time gambler," and "a small-time gambler,"
but never "a little-time gambler."

I can only echo your lament: how does anyone who's not a native speaker
ever learn the nuances of a language not his or her own.  Alas!


  -- Rudy



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