how big (of) a problem?

Tibs wrote to me in October 2020: A few years ago, Americans started adding “of” in places it didn’t occur before. It gradually spread into books, and across the atlantic to here as well. I don’t have an exact timing - less than 10 years? I find it hard to remember examples, because it’s become part of the scenery, but it’s always a case where leaving out the “of” leaves the meaning identical For instance: not that big [of] a deal ... as ordinary [of] a childhood as possible (this one from The Boys on Netflix)My apologies, Tibs, for making you wait so long. Here we go!What is it?Linguist Harold Allen gave the change a tongue-in-cheek name: the Big of Syndrome. The adjective involved need not be big, of course. (Still, I'll use big of a lot here, because it's easier to find examples.)Let's look at the elements of a big-of expression:an adverbial element (e.g., as, how, quite, so, this/that, too) that's indicating 'measurement' of the adjectivea gradable adjective (i.e. the ones that…