Meaning
Trivial, insignificant or hardly worth consideration, especially of sums of money, achievements or problems ('that is small potatoes next to the deficit'). Applied to people it once meant unimportant or contemptible, a use that now sounds dated. Informal and chiefly North American. Informal and dismissive; applying it to a person sounds old-fashioned and belittling. Regional use: American English.
Origin
An Americanism of the early nineteenth century, built on farm economics: a hill that yields only undersized tubers is a poor return, and small potatoes were fit for livestock rather than the market. John Russell Bartlett's 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms glosses 'small potatoes' as mean or contemptible when applied to persons, citing Davy Crockett's 1835 Tour down East, among the earliest print attestations. The expression was common enough in late-1830s Boston that newspapers abbreviated it to 's.p.' during the same initials craze that produced 'O.K.' The older British counterpart is 'small beer'.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- mere small potatoes
- pretty small potatoes
- small potato
- small potatoes next to
Usage Examples
- The fine is small potatoes for a company that clears a billion dollars a year.
- Compared with relocating the entire laboratory, the software migration is small potatoes.
- She waved away the residuals, calling them small potatoes next to the patent rights.