Is “three point ish” an acceptable use of ish?












2















I recently overheard someone estimating a number as




three point ish million




when discussing the maximum damages in a law suit.



Do native speakers use "ish" in this way? (My gut tells me no.)










share|improve this question

























  • I might use "three-point-ish" or "three-pointish" informally. Though this works better spoken than printed.

    – Hot Licks
    1 hour ago






  • 3





    "Ish" is used to suggest approximation, not omission. If you mean omission of a decimal, I'd suggest instead using "three point something million"; if you mean approximation, try "three million-ish."

    – Robusto
    1 hour ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman I added a sentence regarding context to the question.

    – painfulenglish
    54 mins ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman No, I'm not certain. I was inferring that meaning based my understanding of the usage of ish.

    – painfulenglish
    43 mins ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman I wrote "not certain" in my previous comment.

    – painfulenglish
    20 mins ago
















2















I recently overheard someone estimating a number as




three point ish million




when discussing the maximum damages in a law suit.



Do native speakers use "ish" in this way? (My gut tells me no.)










share|improve this question

























  • I might use "three-point-ish" or "three-pointish" informally. Though this works better spoken than printed.

    – Hot Licks
    1 hour ago






  • 3





    "Ish" is used to suggest approximation, not omission. If you mean omission of a decimal, I'd suggest instead using "three point something million"; if you mean approximation, try "three million-ish."

    – Robusto
    1 hour ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman I added a sentence regarding context to the question.

    – painfulenglish
    54 mins ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman No, I'm not certain. I was inferring that meaning based my understanding of the usage of ish.

    – painfulenglish
    43 mins ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman I wrote "not certain" in my previous comment.

    – painfulenglish
    20 mins ago














2












2








2








I recently overheard someone estimating a number as




three point ish million




when discussing the maximum damages in a law suit.



Do native speakers use "ish" in this way? (My gut tells me no.)










share|improve this question
















I recently overheard someone estimating a number as




three point ish million




when discussing the maximum damages in a law suit.



Do native speakers use "ish" in this way? (My gut tells me no.)







usage speech






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 54 mins ago







painfulenglish

















asked 1 hour ago









painfulenglishpainfulenglish

1,74711436




1,74711436













  • I might use "three-point-ish" or "three-pointish" informally. Though this works better spoken than printed.

    – Hot Licks
    1 hour ago






  • 3





    "Ish" is used to suggest approximation, not omission. If you mean omission of a decimal, I'd suggest instead using "three point something million"; if you mean approximation, try "three million-ish."

    – Robusto
    1 hour ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman I added a sentence regarding context to the question.

    – painfulenglish
    54 mins ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman No, I'm not certain. I was inferring that meaning based my understanding of the usage of ish.

    – painfulenglish
    43 mins ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman I wrote "not certain" in my previous comment.

    – painfulenglish
    20 mins ago



















  • I might use "three-point-ish" or "three-pointish" informally. Though this works better spoken than printed.

    – Hot Licks
    1 hour ago






  • 3





    "Ish" is used to suggest approximation, not omission. If you mean omission of a decimal, I'd suggest instead using "three point something million"; if you mean approximation, try "three million-ish."

    – Robusto
    1 hour ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman I added a sentence regarding context to the question.

    – painfulenglish
    54 mins ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman No, I'm not certain. I was inferring that meaning based my understanding of the usage of ish.

    – painfulenglish
    43 mins ago






  • 1





    @BenjaminHarman I wrote "not certain" in my previous comment.

    – painfulenglish
    20 mins ago

















I might use "three-point-ish" or "three-pointish" informally. Though this works better spoken than printed.

– Hot Licks
1 hour ago





I might use "three-point-ish" or "three-pointish" informally. Though this works better spoken than printed.

– Hot Licks
1 hour ago




3




3





"Ish" is used to suggest approximation, not omission. If you mean omission of a decimal, I'd suggest instead using "three point something million"; if you mean approximation, try "three million-ish."

– Robusto
1 hour ago





"Ish" is used to suggest approximation, not omission. If you mean omission of a decimal, I'd suggest instead using "three point something million"; if you mean approximation, try "three million-ish."

– Robusto
1 hour ago




1




1





@BenjaminHarman I added a sentence regarding context to the question.

– painfulenglish
54 mins ago





@BenjaminHarman I added a sentence regarding context to the question.

– painfulenglish
54 mins ago




1




1





@BenjaminHarman No, I'm not certain. I was inferring that meaning based my understanding of the usage of ish.

– painfulenglish
43 mins ago





@BenjaminHarman No, I'm not certain. I was inferring that meaning based my understanding of the usage of ish.

– painfulenglish
43 mins ago




1




1





@BenjaminHarman I wrote "not certain" in my previous comment.

– painfulenglish
20 mins ago





@BenjaminHarman I wrote "not certain" in my previous comment.

– painfulenglish
20 mins ago










2 Answers
2






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oldest

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1














The standard pattern for 'ish' is that is changes a adjective to an adverb (like 'like' or '-ly') which addds the meaning 'around or 'roughly' or 'nearly'. For example,




'bluish' for 'with a blue tinge.




It doesn't work with all adjectives, eg 'terrible-ish' just doesn't work for 'terrible or nearly so'. (though possibly informally).



The current popular informal extension to this pattern is that the suffix 'ish' has an additional use as a stand alone word, a sentence adverb.



The instance you overheard




three point ish million




sounds like it is trying to slightly move over to mean 'a vague thing that I'm not specifying'. In current culture it seems to be the trend to do all sorts of weird, conversions of noun to interjection to past participle subjunctive verb ending. Some of them work, some of them not. For me, this one doesn't but maybe it'll catch on.



It took me a couple of readings to 'get' it. 'ish' is not a formal thing so the patterns it appears in are pretty unstable. I can see how with some semantic drift, 'ish' works here, but this instance still sounds currently 'off'. As a native speaker, I would suggest that non-native speakers not attempt to use 'ish'.






share|improve this answer































    1














    While "three point ish" makes sense, I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean before "million." That's because the phrase "three point million" doesn't make sense. Maybe what you actually heard the native speaker say was something like "three point two ish million" or "three million ish" or "three million points ish."



    Anyway, what it appears you're driving at is the use of "ish," and, yes, that's become acceptable in informal English.



    In recent years, "ish" has started to appear as a word in and of itself as people say it after what's been said, either by them or someone else, to mean that it may not be exactly right or true but is close enough for the purposes of the conversation, is their best and most educated guess of what's true, is somewhat true, or the truth is somewhere thereabouts if not exactly so.



    Example 1:




    "Are you hungry?" asked Henry.



    "Ish," answered Susan.




    Example 2:




    Oh, yeah, you'll like him. He's handsome. Well, ish.




    Additional sources:



    https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ish



    https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/06/ish-how-a-suffix-became-an-independent-word-even-though-it-s-not-in-all-the-dictionaries-yet.html



    Addendum:



    In researching your question and after reading of another use of "ish" I didn't know about, your question really needs more context, even if just what accent the person spoke in.



    While I am American and haven't heard this myself, there is apparently an informal usage of "ish" (see def. 3) in American English as a euphemism for the expletive "s-h-i-t."



    With that in mind, I now find it plausible that "ish" in that exact context could've been used. I could, for example, easily see someone saying something like "It cost three point ish million" to mean "It cost three point s-h-i-t million," or in other words "some s-h-i-t sum" (i.e., "inconsequential amount" or "petty amount") over three million dollars.



    Therefore, "three point ish million" could be conveying three million, along with some beyond-the-decimal-point amount over exactly three million that the speaker is vulgarly, if euphemistically, dismissing as not worth remembering or specifying.






    share|improve this answer


























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      2 Answers
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      2 Answers
      2






      active

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      active

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      active

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      1














      The standard pattern for 'ish' is that is changes a adjective to an adverb (like 'like' or '-ly') which addds the meaning 'around or 'roughly' or 'nearly'. For example,




      'bluish' for 'with a blue tinge.




      It doesn't work with all adjectives, eg 'terrible-ish' just doesn't work for 'terrible or nearly so'. (though possibly informally).



      The current popular informal extension to this pattern is that the suffix 'ish' has an additional use as a stand alone word, a sentence adverb.



      The instance you overheard




      three point ish million




      sounds like it is trying to slightly move over to mean 'a vague thing that I'm not specifying'. In current culture it seems to be the trend to do all sorts of weird, conversions of noun to interjection to past participle subjunctive verb ending. Some of them work, some of them not. For me, this one doesn't but maybe it'll catch on.



      It took me a couple of readings to 'get' it. 'ish' is not a formal thing so the patterns it appears in are pretty unstable. I can see how with some semantic drift, 'ish' works here, but this instance still sounds currently 'off'. As a native speaker, I would suggest that non-native speakers not attempt to use 'ish'.






      share|improve this answer




























        1














        The standard pattern for 'ish' is that is changes a adjective to an adverb (like 'like' or '-ly') which addds the meaning 'around or 'roughly' or 'nearly'. For example,




        'bluish' for 'with a blue tinge.




        It doesn't work with all adjectives, eg 'terrible-ish' just doesn't work for 'terrible or nearly so'. (though possibly informally).



        The current popular informal extension to this pattern is that the suffix 'ish' has an additional use as a stand alone word, a sentence adverb.



        The instance you overheard




        three point ish million




        sounds like it is trying to slightly move over to mean 'a vague thing that I'm not specifying'. In current culture it seems to be the trend to do all sorts of weird, conversions of noun to interjection to past participle subjunctive verb ending. Some of them work, some of them not. For me, this one doesn't but maybe it'll catch on.



        It took me a couple of readings to 'get' it. 'ish' is not a formal thing so the patterns it appears in are pretty unstable. I can see how with some semantic drift, 'ish' works here, but this instance still sounds currently 'off'. As a native speaker, I would suggest that non-native speakers not attempt to use 'ish'.






        share|improve this answer


























          1












          1








          1







          The standard pattern for 'ish' is that is changes a adjective to an adverb (like 'like' or '-ly') which addds the meaning 'around or 'roughly' or 'nearly'. For example,




          'bluish' for 'with a blue tinge.




          It doesn't work with all adjectives, eg 'terrible-ish' just doesn't work for 'terrible or nearly so'. (though possibly informally).



          The current popular informal extension to this pattern is that the suffix 'ish' has an additional use as a stand alone word, a sentence adverb.



          The instance you overheard




          three point ish million




          sounds like it is trying to slightly move over to mean 'a vague thing that I'm not specifying'. In current culture it seems to be the trend to do all sorts of weird, conversions of noun to interjection to past participle subjunctive verb ending. Some of them work, some of them not. For me, this one doesn't but maybe it'll catch on.



          It took me a couple of readings to 'get' it. 'ish' is not a formal thing so the patterns it appears in are pretty unstable. I can see how with some semantic drift, 'ish' works here, but this instance still sounds currently 'off'. As a native speaker, I would suggest that non-native speakers not attempt to use 'ish'.






          share|improve this answer













          The standard pattern for 'ish' is that is changes a adjective to an adverb (like 'like' or '-ly') which addds the meaning 'around or 'roughly' or 'nearly'. For example,




          'bluish' for 'with a blue tinge.




          It doesn't work with all adjectives, eg 'terrible-ish' just doesn't work for 'terrible or nearly so'. (though possibly informally).



          The current popular informal extension to this pattern is that the suffix 'ish' has an additional use as a stand alone word, a sentence adverb.



          The instance you overheard




          three point ish million




          sounds like it is trying to slightly move over to mean 'a vague thing that I'm not specifying'. In current culture it seems to be the trend to do all sorts of weird, conversions of noun to interjection to past participle subjunctive verb ending. Some of them work, some of them not. For me, this one doesn't but maybe it'll catch on.



          It took me a couple of readings to 'get' it. 'ish' is not a formal thing so the patterns it appears in are pretty unstable. I can see how with some semantic drift, 'ish' works here, but this instance still sounds currently 'off'. As a native speaker, I would suggest that non-native speakers not attempt to use 'ish'.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 50 mins ago









          MitchMitch

          52.4k15105220




          52.4k15105220

























              1














              While "three point ish" makes sense, I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean before "million." That's because the phrase "three point million" doesn't make sense. Maybe what you actually heard the native speaker say was something like "three point two ish million" or "three million ish" or "three million points ish."



              Anyway, what it appears you're driving at is the use of "ish," and, yes, that's become acceptable in informal English.



              In recent years, "ish" has started to appear as a word in and of itself as people say it after what's been said, either by them or someone else, to mean that it may not be exactly right or true but is close enough for the purposes of the conversation, is their best and most educated guess of what's true, is somewhat true, or the truth is somewhere thereabouts if not exactly so.



              Example 1:




              "Are you hungry?" asked Henry.



              "Ish," answered Susan.




              Example 2:




              Oh, yeah, you'll like him. He's handsome. Well, ish.




              Additional sources:



              https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ish



              https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/06/ish-how-a-suffix-became-an-independent-word-even-though-it-s-not-in-all-the-dictionaries-yet.html



              Addendum:



              In researching your question and after reading of another use of "ish" I didn't know about, your question really needs more context, even if just what accent the person spoke in.



              While I am American and haven't heard this myself, there is apparently an informal usage of "ish" (see def. 3) in American English as a euphemism for the expletive "s-h-i-t."



              With that in mind, I now find it plausible that "ish" in that exact context could've been used. I could, for example, easily see someone saying something like "It cost three point ish million" to mean "It cost three point s-h-i-t million," or in other words "some s-h-i-t sum" (i.e., "inconsequential amount" or "petty amount") over three million dollars.



              Therefore, "three point ish million" could be conveying three million, along with some beyond-the-decimal-point amount over exactly three million that the speaker is vulgarly, if euphemistically, dismissing as not worth remembering or specifying.






              share|improve this answer






























                1














                While "three point ish" makes sense, I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean before "million." That's because the phrase "three point million" doesn't make sense. Maybe what you actually heard the native speaker say was something like "three point two ish million" or "three million ish" or "three million points ish."



                Anyway, what it appears you're driving at is the use of "ish," and, yes, that's become acceptable in informal English.



                In recent years, "ish" has started to appear as a word in and of itself as people say it after what's been said, either by them or someone else, to mean that it may not be exactly right or true but is close enough for the purposes of the conversation, is their best and most educated guess of what's true, is somewhat true, or the truth is somewhere thereabouts if not exactly so.



                Example 1:




                "Are you hungry?" asked Henry.



                "Ish," answered Susan.




                Example 2:




                Oh, yeah, you'll like him. He's handsome. Well, ish.




                Additional sources:



                https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ish



                https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/06/ish-how-a-suffix-became-an-independent-word-even-though-it-s-not-in-all-the-dictionaries-yet.html



                Addendum:



                In researching your question and after reading of another use of "ish" I didn't know about, your question really needs more context, even if just what accent the person spoke in.



                While I am American and haven't heard this myself, there is apparently an informal usage of "ish" (see def. 3) in American English as a euphemism for the expletive "s-h-i-t."



                With that in mind, I now find it plausible that "ish" in that exact context could've been used. I could, for example, easily see someone saying something like "It cost three point ish million" to mean "It cost three point s-h-i-t million," or in other words "some s-h-i-t sum" (i.e., "inconsequential amount" or "petty amount") over three million dollars.



                Therefore, "three point ish million" could be conveying three million, along with some beyond-the-decimal-point amount over exactly three million that the speaker is vulgarly, if euphemistically, dismissing as not worth remembering or specifying.






                share|improve this answer




























                  1












                  1








                  1







                  While "three point ish" makes sense, I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean before "million." That's because the phrase "three point million" doesn't make sense. Maybe what you actually heard the native speaker say was something like "three point two ish million" or "three million ish" or "three million points ish."



                  Anyway, what it appears you're driving at is the use of "ish," and, yes, that's become acceptable in informal English.



                  In recent years, "ish" has started to appear as a word in and of itself as people say it after what's been said, either by them or someone else, to mean that it may not be exactly right or true but is close enough for the purposes of the conversation, is their best and most educated guess of what's true, is somewhat true, or the truth is somewhere thereabouts if not exactly so.



                  Example 1:




                  "Are you hungry?" asked Henry.



                  "Ish," answered Susan.




                  Example 2:




                  Oh, yeah, you'll like him. He's handsome. Well, ish.




                  Additional sources:



                  https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ish



                  https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/06/ish-how-a-suffix-became-an-independent-word-even-though-it-s-not-in-all-the-dictionaries-yet.html



                  Addendum:



                  In researching your question and after reading of another use of "ish" I didn't know about, your question really needs more context, even if just what accent the person spoke in.



                  While I am American and haven't heard this myself, there is apparently an informal usage of "ish" (see def. 3) in American English as a euphemism for the expletive "s-h-i-t."



                  With that in mind, I now find it plausible that "ish" in that exact context could've been used. I could, for example, easily see someone saying something like "It cost three point ish million" to mean "It cost three point s-h-i-t million," or in other words "some s-h-i-t sum" (i.e., "inconsequential amount" or "petty amount") over three million dollars.



                  Therefore, "three point ish million" could be conveying three million, along with some beyond-the-decimal-point amount over exactly three million that the speaker is vulgarly, if euphemistically, dismissing as not worth remembering or specifying.






                  share|improve this answer















                  While "three point ish" makes sense, I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean before "million." That's because the phrase "three point million" doesn't make sense. Maybe what you actually heard the native speaker say was something like "three point two ish million" or "three million ish" or "three million points ish."



                  Anyway, what it appears you're driving at is the use of "ish," and, yes, that's become acceptable in informal English.



                  In recent years, "ish" has started to appear as a word in and of itself as people say it after what's been said, either by them or someone else, to mean that it may not be exactly right or true but is close enough for the purposes of the conversation, is their best and most educated guess of what's true, is somewhat true, or the truth is somewhere thereabouts if not exactly so.



                  Example 1:




                  "Are you hungry?" asked Henry.



                  "Ish," answered Susan.




                  Example 2:




                  Oh, yeah, you'll like him. He's handsome. Well, ish.




                  Additional sources:



                  https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ish



                  https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/06/ish-how-a-suffix-became-an-independent-word-even-though-it-s-not-in-all-the-dictionaries-yet.html



                  Addendum:



                  In researching your question and after reading of another use of "ish" I didn't know about, your question really needs more context, even if just what accent the person spoke in.



                  While I am American and haven't heard this myself, there is apparently an informal usage of "ish" (see def. 3) in American English as a euphemism for the expletive "s-h-i-t."



                  With that in mind, I now find it plausible that "ish" in that exact context could've been used. I could, for example, easily see someone saying something like "It cost three point ish million" to mean "It cost three point s-h-i-t million," or in other words "some s-h-i-t sum" (i.e., "inconsequential amount" or "petty amount") over three million dollars.



                  Therefore, "three point ish million" could be conveying three million, along with some beyond-the-decimal-point amount over exactly three million that the speaker is vulgarly, if euphemistically, dismissing as not worth remembering or specifying.







                  share|improve this answer














                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer








                  edited 28 mins ago

























                  answered 1 hour ago









                  Benjamin HarmanBenjamin Harman

                  5,25931539




                  5,25931539






























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