So Katish, So kuh-TISH

A member of our Facebook group reports that her mother used to deride a privileged and expensively dressed woman with the phrase, Oh, she thinks she’s so katish! Used since the 1890s in the North Central part of the United States, katish or catish or kitash is a dialectal term meaning “fine,” “elegant,” or “stylish.” It’s pronounced with stress on the second syllable: kuh-TISH. This is part of a complete episode.