I was writing in another fred when the thought attacked me: What is the difference between saying that something is "small" and that it is "little"? At first I thought there must be some semantic reason, but as I considered examples I got to thinking it might just be a usage thing.

For instance:

- It's quite different to say "a small boy" and "a little boy": the way I see it one always refers to size and the other always to age. Same if we say "a little dog" and "a small dog".

- It's also different to say "a small lorry" and "a little lorry", but the difference here seems (to me) to lie in the connotations, with "small lorry" meaning a not-so-large-in-size lorry, and "little lorry" carrying the connotation of "a cute vehicle which almost looks like a toy".

- However, there doesn't seem to be so much difference between saying "a small house" and "a little house". Same if we say "a small problem" or "a little problem". Or are there some connotative vibes I'm not getting here?

Is this actually a non-issue and am I just being daft?