# Just a touch of linguistic help please?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-touch-of-linguistic-help-please/43325>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 30, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-touch-of-linguistic-help-please/43325 "2000-11-30T04:55:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-touch-of-linguistic-help-please/43325/1 "2000-11-30T04:55:04Z")

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Has anyone here ever heard of a word that sounds like skotch?  
(with a long o as in mote)  
Generally used in sentences to mean just a touch…  
Something like this.  
“Would you like a little milk for your coffee?”  
“Just a ‘skotch’”

I ask because I haven’t been able to find it in a couple of dictionaries I checked out, only two of my friends had vaguely heard of it; and interestingly, it sounds similar to a Japanese word that I will probably transliterate wrongly as tsukoshi which has the same approximate meaning.  
I was wondering if this was another Nihon word working its way into the English language, or if in fact the similarity was pure coincidence.

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-touch-of-linguistic-help-please/43325/2 "2000-11-30T05:04:46Z")

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skosh.

According to this you guessed right:

[http://www.bartleby.com/61/66/S0456600.html](http://www.bartleby.com/61/66/S0456600.html)

I’d never of guessed that etymology …

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**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-touch-of-linguistic-help-please/43325/3 "2000-11-30T05:06:39Z")

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According to my American Heritage dictionary:

> [@](#):
>
> skosh ( sk½sh) n. Slang 1. A small amount; a bit: “ This is a well-plotted, economical thriller. Although the beginning is a skosh slow, [the author] picks up the pace ” T. Jefferson Parker [Japanese sukoshi]

Looks like it is a Japanese word that made it into English.

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**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-touch-of-linguistic-help-please/43325/4 "2000-11-30T05:11:29Z")

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Bam! I love how Straight Dope denizens can just nail these questions in no time flat. Within five minutes I have two responses with same American Heritage ref. I’ll have to use it when looking up slang words in the future (of course, I had no clue how to spell it…)  
Thanks!

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**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-touch-of-linguistic-help-please/43325/5 "2000-11-30T14:15:57Z")

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As with all things, go to the master first, **Kyberneticist**. 🙂

Unca Cece answered this question [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_267.html). 🙂