May 24, 1999

skosh

Just read your column on "tad" and it came to mind that the same meaning has been tossed around with the term "skosh." It would be interesing to know just what a "skosh" is and also the term's origin.

Well, as you already know, a skosh is a tad.

The main use of skosh, and really the only widespread use, is as a noun meaning 'a little bit; a small amount; jot', in phrases such as "just a skosh." The word is a borrowing from Japanese sukoshi, which means 'a little bit' as a noun, or as an adverb 'a little; slightly; for a short time'.

Skosh was picked up by American servicemen around the time of the Korean War. In military usage it is found a wide variety of constructions. As a noun there is the familiar 'little bit' meaning and a temporal sense 'a short interval of time' ("be back in a skosh"). There's the adjective skosh 'little; few; inadequate' ("I have skosh time" or "a skosh bit"; there are various nuances) and 'perfect; fine' ("everything was skosh"). There's the phrase skosh on 'short of' ("skosh on gas," "skosh on beer"). There's an adverb 'slightly' or 'quickly', often in the phrase more skosh 'right away; quickly'.

The word skosh is found in various spellings, from sukoshi to skoshy and in other forms reflecting a partial Anglicization of the Japanese word. Skosh is first recorded in 1951. It remained a chiefly military term through the 1950s and '60s, and spread into more mainstream usage in the '60s and '70s.