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What's the difference between "kinda" and "somewhat" generally and also in these examples?

1.I'm kinda annoyed

2.I'm somewhat annoyed

user18905
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    I can't speak for everyone, but even though I'm usually happy to drop the /v/ when reducing kind of to kinda, I wouldn't do it when the following word starts with a vowel. Apart from that, I think most people would agree that even in speech, kinda is more colloquial that somewhat - and this is much more so when you explicitly represent it using "eye-dialect" in the written form. – FumbleFingers Apr 19 '15 at 15:30
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    Kind of is far more colloquial than somewhat in speech, and when writing "kinda" is inappropriate in anything but texts (IMs), very informal emails, and in a personal diary where you can do whatever you like :) – TimR Apr 19 '15 at 15:38

1 Answers1

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As noted in comments, 'kinda' is very informal version of 'kind of' which itself is a more casual usage than 'somewhat'.

Regarding degree, I would say that 'kinda' implies a greater degree than 'somewhat'. 'kinda' is likely to be either being meant as a literal equivalent to "a bit" or, quite often, it is used as understatement of a more substantial degree. ("I'm kinda mad at you." meaning quite pissed) 'Somewhat' could also be used in understatement, but that is less common. It is more likely to be used as a straightforward moderator--to diminish the severity of whatever it is modifying.

But while I would list the order as ['a little','somewhat','a bit' ,'rather','very'] that is not set in stone and 'somewhat' is probably the most slippery.

elc
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