"Somewhat" + noun - is this a recent thing?

[Britva415]

My whole life, "something of a [noun]" and "somewhat [adjective]" were expressions I heard.

Only in the last 10 years did I ever hear or read the construction, "somewhat of a [noun]."

The first handful of times, I regarded it as a malapropism - someone getting it wrong. But now it's everywhere and I can't point to the last time I came across "something of a [noun]," except in speech with certain people who always said it that way. In writing, it seems like it never comes up anymore and has been utterly replaced with "somewhat of a."

So, is this new? I'm asking for personal experience, not for documentation. OED shows that it's a synonym of "something," including in the "something of a..." construction, but for the life of me I don't know why I never heard it before recently - and why "something of a..." has utterly disappeared.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've used "somewhat + adjective" and "something of a + noun" for a long time. I had not observed that "Something of a" had disappeared and so far I haven't noticed "somewhat of a + noun." But I'm sure now I will be on the lookout for it.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Somewhat of a nerd, something of an ass, somewhat of a problem, something of a mess. Is there really a rule on how to use somewhat and something?

 

[Britva415]

Somewhat of a nerd, something of an ass, somewhat of a problem, something of a mess. Is there really a rule on how to use somewhat and something?

For 40 years, it seemed to me that there was. It doesn't look like I was right about that, but it's still surprising that, before, I never ever saw "somewhat of a," and now I never ever see "something of a."

If I had been asked to explain the rule, I would have said "somewhat" is an adverb and so could only go together with an adjective. Looking into it, I do see that "somewhat" has been used as an adjective itself and even occasionally as the noun, like "something" is, for centuries.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

No, it's not new at all. What is new is "I'm low-key surprised," or "I low-key like zoo," or "I'm a low-key foodie."

 

[lustychimera]

I'm with ya. "Somewhat of a..." sounds clunky to me. "Something" is much smoother, especially for prose.

Hard to read the former without a drawl. "I s'pose its somewhat of a..."

 

[MillieDynamite]

It was somewhat difficult for me to figure out if I even carried about either. I'm sort of low-key that way. Speaking of keys, just dropped mine, that's somewhat stupid of me, isn't it?