My mother used a couple of phrases that I'm wondering where came from. One was "not one iota," which I know is Greek (though we don't pronounce it in the Greek way). The other was "bless his little teemy timo." That was usually said of a child of whom sympathy was due or of whom it needed to be recognized that his small efforts were great in proportion to his ability. I wondered if "teemy timo" was just a corruption of "teeny, tiny" (as in "bless his teeny, tiny heart") or if another Greek word "timē" (which carries the connotation "value") was involved.
Has anyone else heard this phrase? |
[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 12/1/15 9:26 am

|