a Yankee dime

Dave Wilton dave at WILTON.NET
Sat Jun 22 15:39:25 UTC 2002


> As I recall "tinker's dam" is originally "dam" (not "damn"), and
> referred to the worthless, temporary wax "dam" that tinker's used in
> their soldering work.

No, "damn" appears in 1839, while "dam" is 1877. And "tinker's curse" older
than either at 1824. "Dam," and the accompanying explanations, are a
bowdlerization.



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