merely a trifle

[sled]

[A#minor]

So says the American Heritage College Dictionary-
Trifle: 1. Something of little importance of value.
2. A small amount; a jot.
3. A dessert typically consisting of plain or sponge cake soaked in sherry, rum, or brandy and topped with jam and jelly, custard, and whipped cream.


I think that when someone says, "Merely a trifle", they mean the first definition. Usually they are excusing an offense, and assuring the offender that it is of no importance and they are not angry or put out.
Or perhaps they say it when accepting thanks for giving a present. Someone says, "Oh, thankyou! How extragavant you are to give me this!" and the person responds, "Not at all. It is merely a trifle."

Or if it's in response to a question like, "How much sugar would you like in your tea?" and you respond "merely a trifle", then you are saying that you only want a little bit of sugar.

Hope this helps. I've never tried trifle, the dessert, but it sounds good.

[Herald]

So isn't merely a redundant word then? If merely already implies something of common value, then wouldn't merely a trifle, and trifle already meaning little amount, wouldn't that just prove reptitive?

[A#minor]

Good point, but I think that it's already been established as an idiom. Too late to correct it now.

[Herald]

Hahaha.

[carol]

It means, only a small thing - i.e. not a big problem.
It is different from "a piece of cake", which means "easy".

[David]

I have an English friend named Heather and she sometimes makes trifle when I visit her. Delicious, though if you're watching your weight don't go near it. I think the term "trifle" for this particular dish 1) is playfully ironic, since making it is no small task; 2) came about perhaps because it was originally a whole lot of sweet scraps and leftovers thrown together to make a layered pudding. I think, though, the name of the desert somehow dervies from it's being something made of trifles, or little insignificant items--or used ironically, because it takes whipped cream, fruit, sponge cake, and treacle to make a proper one.

dwl

[Sarah N.]

It's like "easy as pie" when everyone knows that pie is very hard to make.

[Leslie]

I think pie is pretty easy to make.

I don't think "merely a trifle" is redundant. The "merely" is in response to the other person's perceived over-reaction. It's like saying a wound is "only a scratch" when someone else is worried about it being serious. In the context of the discourse, to say "It's a trifle" would be odd, and as A#minor points out, not idiomatic.