SMALL boy OR LITTLE boy? WHICH IS CORRECT?

Let me tell you a small story about the word ‘little’. I will be happier if it enriches your English at least a bit more at the end of  reading this page.

Once, Birbal took his lovely daughter to the palace. “How small and strikingly beautiful she looks!” one of Akbar’s friends commented.

The other courtier loudly told the first one so that the emperor could also hear what he said “But what I feel is, it should not be the beauty that counts but it is something else. Being the daughter of Birbal, I naturally expect her to have been gifted with a part of intelligence of her father”

Akbar noticed this and as usual decided to test her. Then he asked a question (In those days kings never care about answering questions! Nowadays at least we have got RTI) “Birbal, is this your daughter? Shall I ask her a question?”

“Yes, Maharaj” Birbal beamed with delight and confidence.

“Baby, do you know Persian language?” The query definitely satisfied the courtiers who were jealous of Birbal. ‘How a small girl can know Persian? First time Birbal was going to receive flak in the court.’ But to their shock came the reply “Yes sir. I know a little more but a little less”

Everybody got baffled. The Emperor knowingly smiled “I could not understand, my child. Your reply confuses us a lot. Would you explain further?”

Birbal attempted to interfere. But the girl responded saying “ Maharaj, I know more Persian than a person who does not know the language. I know less than a person whose mother tongue is Persian.” Nobody could refute the reply.

Birbal was visually happy “Oh…Great…My dear little darling!”

Note on:

Little and small:    Little boy-incorrect;

                               Small boy-correct. Why? Small is associated with size

                                                                  So use ‘small’ when you talk or write about size.

Little can be used when we express our emotions.

E.g.: Birbal was happy at the answer of his small child. So he called her “my little darling”.

        “Gurgaon was a small village twenty years ago”. It is about size here.

        “My little Gurgaon is a city of knowledge now.” Here it is a feeling pride and a      sense of belonging.