tinker's damn

English - Turkish

Definition of tinker's damn in English Turkish dictionary

Related Terms

not to be worth a hill of beans/a toot/a damn/a tinker´s damn

k. dili beş para bile etmemek

English - English

Definition of tinker's damn in English English dictionary

a worthless amount

Related Terms

not give a tinker's damn

To be uninterested in something

I don't give a tinker's damn about your opinions, I'm doing it my way.

Turkish pronunciation

tîngkırz däm

Synonyms

tinker's cuss

Pronunciation

/ˈtəɴɢkərz ˈdam/ /ˈtɪŋkɜrz ˈdæm/

Etymology

() A popular etymology is that tinkers used a small piece of dough or clay, a dam, to stop the flow of solder until it solidified. The dam was single-use, and was thrown away afterwards as useless. However, this is just polish added to an old phrase, as not worth a damn predates the use of tinker's damn. The reference to tinkers was added for emphasis and colour - tinkers were known for swearing, so a damn from a tinker was particularly worthless. Also, it was a way, as with "Fudge" or "Geez Louise" or a million other soft-core curses, to avoid saying the actual word "damn" while pronouncing the word "dam."