Anonymous: smashing - excellent or fineit is possible the word derives from the Scottish Gaelic 'is-math-sin' which means good or fine and is pronounced sma-shin, Personally I am doubtful as "smashing" in the sense of great or super only dates from 1911, and if it really came from Gaelic, I would expect it to have a much older history. "Smash" itself has an unknown etymology, and is probably onomatopoeic. Anonymous: that means it only became recognised by the oed in 1911its possible it was used in scotland before then it certainly is more commonly used in scotland than other parts of the uk Here's the entry from the Dictionary of the Scottish Language: http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl / I see nothing to link it to the Gaelic, which was not spoken in much of Scotland anyhow. Wikipedia is not 100% accurate. Anonymous: In Irish"Is maith sin" literally "Thats good". Anonymous: I have lived on the West side of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland for ten years. I have been slowly getting a handle on the local Gaelic language, which is frequently spoken (probably more than English) in common meetings between people, in the pub or at the filling station, etc. The phrase " 's math sin" was used often and I could not but help think that it sounded just like the English -Smashing, meaning some thing is good. I got a literal translation and it means, "and that is good" , the " 's" is an apostrophised version of "agus" which is the Gaelic for "and" - the word "agus" becomes " 's " when used colloquially . The phrase "smashin' " is pure and simple Gaelic. You will not find it's derivation in English dictionarys as there has to be an example, in the written form, in order for the compilers to have a proven point of reference. Try sending this to the OED and you may see it being credited. It is most certainly not of an unknown derivation. " 'S an robh e math sin?" (literally, "and was that good?") Anonymous: Being Irish myself, I had heard it word came from after 1850s onwards (becoming more popular at turn of century as the joke/expression spread). In mid-1800s more and more Irish were made speak English as a first language. Many were tenant farmers and servants to English Landlords (and more & more of these Landlords returned to England when the Irish policical situation changed (early 1900s). At dinner parties these English gentlemen would compete with friends with funny stories. Some of the Irish Landlords used some of the 'funny' words their tenant farmers/servants used. They might say (for example - to their servant (if they had an Irish servant named Sean) "Hey Sean - What do you think of my idea?" and Sean might say (if trying to be polite in half English/Irish) - "Oh yes - Is math sin" pronounced "Oh yes - Smashing!' (and meaning - "Oh yes - I like it" or "Oh yes - that's good" Needless to say, many thought this a great match (and funny) - (as smashing glasses are used for celebrations in some other countries!) - hence "It's Smashing" became popular with a certain class. | |
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