Japanese Words That Are Now English

I have recently been hearing anchors and reporters using the word skosh on the TV news and it would startle me because it sounds so much like the Japanese word sukoshi which means a little.  I finally looked it up on line and sure enough, it's true.  Skosh does come from sukoshi.

The Japanese appear to have adopted a lot of English words into their vocabulary.  I keep overly hearing the word "cool."  I know words like sushi, tempura, sake, wasabi come from Japan, but they're Japanese foods so I expected that.  Japanese games and words like tsunami are also now part of our language.

But skosh?  There are other synonyms you can use for few.  A little, paltry, sprinkling, a bit, tiny amounts, scattering, scarcely, hardly?  Then again, I do like skosh.  It's got a fun sound to it.

I told mom and she said, "Tycoon is also Japanese."

"No way," I said.

"It's true," she smiled rather .... smugly.  "It comes from taikun which means the shogun."

I looked it up.  Doggone it!  She was right. 

I'll tell her...

tomorrow.