Is it squash, or is it squish? [closed]

Solution 1:

The following interesting extract from "The New York Times Magazine" traces the origin of "squash" and its later variants like squish and squoosh. Their onomatopoeic origin probably contributed to their usage and dialectal diffusion:

The oldest term is squash:

• Squash, formed from the Vulgar Latin exquassare -- ex- ("out") and quassare ("to shake") -- was first on the scene in 1565, meaning "to press into a flat mass," and it gained an extended meaning of "to suppress." (Yes, the name of the racquet game comes from the sound of a ball being momentarily mashed, flattened or squashed by a racquet. No, the vegetable that Martha Stewart grows in her window box comes from a shortening of the Narragansett word askutasquash.)

Squish appeared about a century later in 1640, probably a variant of squash (Etymonline):

• Only a century later, squish appeared both as an alternative to squash and with special reference to the soft, damp sound made by the act of pressing a boot into mud. Other variants of this onomatopoeic verb are squush, more recently spelled squoosh, and smoosh, as in "You can try jamming your garment bag into that overhead bin, Buster, but you better not smoosh down my fur hat."

Despite its usage squish is still a less common variant of squash Ngram:

• The use of the i instead of the a is widespread: in 1970, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew derided radical liberals as squishy-soft, and a few years ago, a telephonic friend of Princess Diana used Squidgy as a term of endearment. (Perhaps that is rooted in squeeze, as is the window-cleaning instrument squeegee, and is beyond the purview of squash-squish analysis, because the Princess did not say she preferred "Squadgy.")

Which is correct, squish or squash?

• Wrong question, because in words imitating sounds, latitude is given to variants.

• The Standard English word for the sound made by crushing a bug is squash; legitimate dialectal variants are squish and squoosh......

Solution 2:

"Squashing a bug" a bug tends to imply stepping on it, or more abstractly, the object being squashed is set upon a stationary surface and the object is then pushed against that surface by a movable surface, (i.e. a bootheel, or flyswatter).

"Squishing a bug" a bug tends to imply pinching, or more abstractly, the object being squished is set between two opposing movable surfaces and the object is then pushed against, (and possibly sheared), from both sides.

Citations pending...

(Yechh...!)