# Use of the phrase "ever so \*x\*"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-phrase-ever-so-x/1014987>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 1, 2025, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-phrase-ever-so-x/1014987 "2025-03-01T19:01:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-phrase-ever-so-x/1014987/21 "2025-03-04T01:42:53Z")

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Readers of Robert McCloskey’s Homer Price stories may remember “Ever-So-Much-More-So,” the colorless, odorless, tasteless powder that makes anything more intensely what it is. (Don’t get it mixed up with your iocane.)

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**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-phrase-ever-so-x/1014987/22 "2025-03-04T02:44:52Z")

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For what it’s worth, here’s [the Google Ngram](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=ever+so+slowly&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false) graph of the phrase “ever so slowly,” suggesting that it has never been more in fashion.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-phrase-ever-so-x/1014987/23 "2025-03-04T02:52:35Z")

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> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> Although the phrase is British English

Is it? I thought we had established it’s both in British English and US English.

For me, US, it’s a perfectly normal sounding construction to my ears, and I have used it on occasion without trying to convey any type of “quaint” vibe. Just looking through my emails, I see several instances where it is used: “ever so slightly” (in reference to adjusting a lens focus), “ever so delicious,” “staggered ever so slightly.”

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-phrase-ever-so-x/1014987/24 "2025-03-04T02:56:51Z")

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This video popped up for me today as a Facebook Reel, using “ever so” as quaint and British.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lvi8aQFDvlQ/maxresdefault.jpg "This Mary Poppins Sketch Did Not Age Well") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvi8aQFDvlQ)

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**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-phrase-ever-so-x/1014987/25 "2025-03-04T22:38:46Z")

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I don’t know why but ‘ever so x’ reminds me of Des. Pa. Cit-o, the hit reggaeton song from 2017. I think it’s the rhythmic meter but Despacito also means softly or slowly so maybe I subconsciously linked them?

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