Last spring, Steven Rattner wrote in the New York Times, "With real wages declining for many Americans, the enactment of relatively minor initiatives is small beer."

Was he suggesting that Joe Six-pack is becoming Joe Five-pack?

Not exactly.

"Small beer" first entered English during the 1500s to describe an unfiltered, porridge-like brew that, because it had less alcohol than regular beer, was often consumed by children and servants. On ships, where fresh water was scarce or contaminated, sailors and passengers, such as the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, often drank small beer instead.

Because small beer was considered inferior, the term soon took on the metaphoric meaning of "trifling, insignificant." In William Shakespeare's "Othello," for instance, Iago used it to denote useless, ridiculous pursuits: "To suckle fools and chronicle small beer."

In 1777, John Adams made the metaphor explicit when he complained that opponents dismissed his constituents as "small beer, which froths and foams for a few Moments while it is new, and then flattens down, to worse than Water." (How did Adams know all these details about beer? His cousin Sam Adams was a brewer.)

"Small beer" has now become a frothy buzzword among politicos. Earlier this year, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote that liberals have become accustomed "to dismissing Clinton scandals as small beer," while a contributor to an Internet discussion wrote that Donald Trump's not paying taxes, "is probably small beer by comparison [with big corporations]."

At the risk of sounding small-minded, let's take a look at another trendy term for the tiny.

In baseball, "small ball" describes an offensive strategy of scoring runs one at a time by placing runners on base and then advancing them with walks, bunts, sacrifice flies and stolen bases, rather than by hitting away and slugging for big innings.

A few years ago, "small ball" spread beyond baseball to politics to describe any step-by-step, incremental strategy.

Last spring, for instance, the New York Times faulted Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for his "small-ball legislative approach" in Congress, while a headline in the Daily News chided Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for lack of vision: "Hillary Clinton's risky game of small ball: She needs to articulate a big idea or two."

Take me out to the small game. And, while you're at it, buy me some small beer and crackerjacks.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.