Today's phrase is: tinker's damn or tinker's dam or tinker's darn
I'm not sure how it came up in a conversation hubby and I had, but when it did it got me wondering, what the heck is a tinker's damn? And what is a tinker. Hubby speculated that a tinker was someone who worked in metal.
According to my research he's right. The word goes back to the 1200s and is of uncertain origin. A tinker was someone who wandered around meaning pots, pans, and other household items made of metal. In Scotland tinker or tinkler came to mean someone who was a tramp or vagrant mostly because those who were "vagrants" worked at tinkers mending pots. These tinkers were know for having potty (pun intended) mouths.
The Oxford English Dictionary says, "The low repute in which these... itinerant sort were held in former times is shown by the expressions to swear like a tinker, a tinker's curse or damn, as drunk or quarrelsome as a tinker, etc."By the 18th century the phrase to "not give a curse/damn" or "not care a curse/damn" or "not worth a curse/damn" was already common so it wasn't a great stretch to add a derogatory "tinker" to the phrase.
The OED says first known use of the phrase came in 1824 from John Mactaggart's The Scottish Gallvidian Encyclopedia: "A tinkler's curse she did na care."
Leave it to the Scots.
Nowadays to tinker means puttering around, doing small or odd jobs or hobbies is casual way. Hubby likes to tinker his garage. It no longer carries a derogatory aura.
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To celebrate eight (8!) years of blogging, I'm offering up a bloghop I know every writer dreams of.
The Listing Hop!
This fest will be so easy and fun it should probably be a crime.
The rules are simple. All you have to do is sign up in the linky thingy below, grab the banner, and make a list. I suggest you keep your list to between 5 and 25 items long. We'll visit each other on October 26th.
You can list whatever you feel like (except for adult type content). That's it! If you really NEED help (PULL-EASE!) on what to list, go HERE for a list of ideas.
Look at how many people have signed up!
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Being Thankful
Today I'm thankful for MOUNTAINS.
Everest
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, China
The Matterhorn
The Titons
Stop by Wednesday, the 21st, as I'll be participating in the October bloghop from Write, Edit, Publish! It's all about Youthful Frights and Adult Fears. Inotherwords, it's about things that go bump in the night.
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What are you grateful for today? Do you like mountains? Do you even give a tinker's damn? :) Have you signed up for my blog hop? Writing up a scary childhood memory for Write, Edit, Publish?
Fun learning about the origins of tinkering. I'm grateful for a fun visit with my in-laws this weekend.
ReplyDeleteA fun visit with the in-laws is always a good thing!
DeleteI'm grateful for today, I love mountains. I do give a tinker's damn! And I have signed up for your blog hop, and I am writing for the WEP!
ReplyDeleteAwesome Monday!
Being grateful for today is wonderful! Thanks for signing up for the hop.
DeleteAmazing photos!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the origins of tinker either.
Isn't it nice to learn something new every day?
DeleteI'd never even heard that phrase before. Interesting info! Can't wait for the blog hop...I should probably figure out what my list will be...
ReplyDeleteSarah, you must be of a "younger" generation. So glad you signed up for the hop, thanks!
DeleteI knew what a Tinker damn was. Yep, those scots! Now a days, as you say, it doesn't have the same connotation as it did. I tinker around doing all sorts of things. :-)
ReplyDeleteSia McKye Over Coffee
I tinker around too, Sia! And I'm not fixing holes in pot either.
DeleteHi Bish - Tinker Tailor is part of our nursery rhyme life .. and the Spy thriller by Le Carre - but you've described a tinker so well ... a chap who went around mending holes in pots!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful mountains .. love the Chinese one ... and the Matterhorn .. they are incredible features of nature ...
I'm thankful for being able to go away and see a few new places in the west country, instead of driving through as I used to when I visited my mother.
Cheers to you - Hilary
Although I've heard of the story by Le Carre, I haven't read it. Have fun in your travels, bring back lots of new info for the rest of us!
DeleteMy grandmother always said someone wasn't worth a tinker's damn when she meant they were lazy.
ReplyDeleteGreat mountains to appreciate, Bish!
Yup that's another way to use this versatile phrase!
DeleteLoved your photos. They all look incredible.
ReplyDeleteI got all the photos from Wikimedia Commons... :) A great source.
DeleteGorgeous photos. I miss the mountains.
ReplyDeleteWe have lots of nice hills around here. I'd have to go to West Texas to see the mountains.
DeleteMountains are beautiful! Such pretty pictures. I also loved learning about the word origin. Always interesting to see where words and phrases came from. :)
ReplyDelete~Jess
Without all these wonderful words we wouldn't have BOOKS! I've always thought learning where they came from, how they evolved is part of being a writer and a reader.
DeleteI signed up for the Listings Blog Hop. I'd better get busy and finish my post!
ReplyDeleteYEAH! Thanks, Stephen. I haven't decided what I'm going to list yet... I better get busy too.
DeleteCool word choice today. I haven't heard it in forever. Probably in something I read a long time ago. Lovely pictures.
ReplyDeleteYup, it may be a it archaic in this day and age, which is why I like dredging up these older phrases and words.
DeleteI love mountains, Karen. They are humbling and awe inspiring.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting! Leave it to my ancestors for such a random phrase :) As for mountains, they're pretty, but I prefer the beach a hundred to one to any mountain I must admit.
ReplyDeleteToday I am thankful for almost making it through the bittersweet month of October. I am blessed to celebrate the birthdays of two of my children and one of daughters received many honors this month amd was on homecoming court and my son won several soccer toirnaments, but I was also extremely sad as I mourned the death of my daughter's triplet sisters. I try really hard not to let people know that their deaths still bother me so deeply, but it's hard to pull off. Inn thankful for the children that God blessed me with.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to do the list blog hop this time. I signed up
Last time and I was really excited but i just flaked out and forgot. I won't forget this time. Looking foreward to it . It might be the last anyone hears from me until the end of NaNo.