Salty vs Saltish

[Tom]

Hi

Is there any difference between salty and saltish?

Many thanks

Tom

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

To me 'salty' with reference to food suggests that there is too much salt in it. 'Saltish' is new to me I'm afraid. It is possible to put 'ish' on the end of an adjective sometimes to suggest a bit like the adjective used. So 'greenish' means the colour has a green element in it.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Indirect Speech

[Tom]

Many thanks Alan

Could you please see this one?

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/saltish

Does "somewhat salty" mean anything containing some salt?

Tom

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

'Somewhat' to me suggests 'too much'. It's very often used in an understatement, which is a characteristic of English. Imagine the situation: You are talking to somebody and for no apparent reason they suddenly turn around and walk away. Now, in a situation like that you could say: That was very strange or you could go for the understatement: That was somewhat strange. Hope that clarifies a bit.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story A day in the life of a stately home owner

[Tom]

Thanks again

Now I understand the words are synonymous.

At first I thought saltish was different form salty this way.

[Yankee]