the fine/small print
Jul. 13th, 2025 07:47 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
acommonlanguage_feedLast month, Dave Mandl tagged me on this message on Bluesky:
I hadn't really reali{s/z}ed it either, till Dave pointed it out. But sure enough, it is the case. Here are a couple of screenshots from the Corpus of Global Web-Based English, showing the fine print and the small print with a bit more grammatical context:
 |
Before we get into the how, when, and where of this, let's start with the what. There are three uses of the fine/small print to sort out, which arose in this order:
- the original, literal meaning: printed characters that small in dimension and (relatedly/therefore) light in line thickness, and therefore difficult to read
e.g. I can't read such small/fine print without my glasses. - the extended meaning the fine/small print: supplementary text to a contract or other document that expresses terms and conditions, typically printed in a small/light font
e.g. They hid the extra penalty fees in the small/fine print. - more figurative uses (again with the): important, technical/non-obvious information that one might not have paid attention to, but that might have serious repercussions.
e.g. "The fine print of what Obama is doing is far less dramatic than many of his defenders and critics claim." (Cedar Rapids, IA Gazette, quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary)
In the literal sense 1, the OED has examples of small print all the way back to the 1500s; fine print only appears in 1761. All the first citations are from England, but all their examples of fine print from the 1850s onward are American.
In the extended sense 2 (from what evidence we have), the fine print shows up first—in an American case-law reporter in 1891. The small print is first found in a yachting manual published in London in 1900.
It's hard to say when these expressions got more figurative. The OED only gives a separate figurative sense 3 for fine print (first example, 1948) with just "also figurative" at sense 2 for small print. It's a bit annoying that the two are treated differently, but it appears to be because the figurative examples of fine print in AmE are just more figurative. In the 'figurative' fine print examples, like the Obama one above, we're looking at deeds rather than words. But the not-really-about-print examples of sense 2 for small print involve language (if not print), as in this example from the Telegraph:
- 1971Some interest attaches therefore to the ‘small print’ of the Queen's speech and how far it avoids firm undertakings on some of the more controversial measures.
So, to sum up, it looks like, for some reason, AmE liked the phrase fine print more than small print for the literal stuff, and then it added an extended meaning relating to contractual language. You can see the frequency of the phrase rising as it gets more uses—and the neglect of small print in the Corpus of Historical American English:
Then after the meaning was extended, it looks like it was calqued into BrE—which is to say BrE took the idea and put it into the more familiar phrasing small print.
I wondered whether there were broader differences in the use of fine in its 'slim, delicate' linear senses in AmE and BrE. I found a few things, but they don't add up to much of a picture:
- fine line: consistently more AmE than BrE hits in singular
- fine lines and wrinkles: This phrase had 3x more hits in BrE than AmE in GloWbE (2012–13), but only about 1/3 more in the more recent News on the Web (NoW) corpus. It's strongest in Hong Kong/Singapore/Malaysia, though, so maybe it originated in advertising in Asia?
- draw a fine line between (two similar things): The OED's first example of that is BrE in 1848; the GloWbE corpus now has more US examples than UK, but the numbers are very small.
- fine-tip, fine-point (of a pen, etc.): much more AmE in GloWbE and NoW. (The number of hits for fine nib were tiny, but more in BrE. Fine-nibbed pen had more in AmE.)
Disclaimer:
The content provided on this blog is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The following disclaimer has been generated by an automated system, specifically ChatGPT, as part of the author’s decision to outsource the creation of said disclaimer for humorous and convenience-based purposes. The author of this blog, herein referred to as "the Publisher," disclaims any liability for the use or interpretation of the information contained herein.
By accessing and reading this blog, the reader acknowledges and agrees that the Publisher does not assume responsibility for any actions, outcomes, or consequences resulting from reliance on the content provided. Furthermore, the Publisher shall not be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from the use or inability to use the information contained on this blog.
The Publisher makes no warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the content provided, nor does the Publisher guarantee that the content will be free from errors, omissions, or inaccuracies, since she wrote it on a Sunday afternoon, post-pub. Any reliance placed on such content is done so at the reader’s own risk.
This disclaimer is subject to change at the Publisher's discretion and without prior notice. Continued use of this blog constitutes the reader’s acceptance of these terms.
(no subject)
Jul. 12th, 2025 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lakeeffectgirlI am on vacation AGAIN, which still feels like good motive to post - Lake, you might think, weren't you just on vacation? Yes, but I am still using up the vacation time from 2024 that I did not take because we were so short-staffed the whole flipping year. And now it's July and I haven't used any of 2025's vacation! Of which I have a lot because I have been at my job for twenty years now. Anyway! Our second attempt at finding a full-time third shift person starts on Monday, so I will immediately be training that person - but he has related knowledge in his previous job so should hopefully be a fairly quick train and was looking for something less stressful than his last job, which we are. (Unlike the last person, who quit because she was bored.) Crossing my fingers!
I have not done much while off - took my sister to the new Jurassic movie, which was decent. I am old enough to remember seeing the original in the cinema so none of the ones since have been as good. This one was closer to the original in tone, which I enjoyed, but the dinosaurs are all CGI now, and you can tell. Jonathan Bailey is the Alan Grant-style character in this and he got some good moments, and he's a fine actor, but as I am not a Bridgerton girlie I really don't care about him, lol. (Also his one really Alan moment would have been better if the dinosaurs in it weren't so stupid-looking! Their tails were idiotic! Gah!)
Also watched Sinners, which was great.
I have little else to report. I am still very into The Pitt and have many a WIP - two are basically done and just need me to be in the mood to edit/tinker and then post. I assume I will be in the mood eventually so am just letting the rough drafts be for now. Which is probably a good skill to practice, vs. hurrying up. Also waiting for fandom5k to open; it got pushed back another week so is now much closer to the end of the month. Which does give me more time to do another edit, I suppose.
I have not done much while off - took my sister to the new Jurassic movie, which was decent. I am old enough to remember seeing the original in the cinema so none of the ones since have been as good. This one was closer to the original in tone, which I enjoyed, but the dinosaurs are all CGI now, and you can tell. Jonathan Bailey is the Alan Grant-style character in this and he got some good moments, and he's a fine actor, but as I am not a Bridgerton girlie I really don't care about him, lol. (Also his one really Alan moment would have been better if the dinosaurs in it weren't so stupid-looking! Their tails were idiotic! Gah!)
Also watched Sinners, which was great.
I have little else to report. I am still very into The Pitt and have many a WIP - two are basically done and just need me to be in the mood to edit/tinker and then post. I assume I will be in the mood eventually so am just letting the rough drafts be for now. Which is probably a good skill to practice, vs. hurrying up. Also waiting for fandom5k to open; it got pushed back another week so is now much closer to the end of the month. Which does give me more time to do another edit, I suppose.
