Simile: like *substance* through a tin horn

[Victor Steinbok]

FWIW I lean in the opposite direction. My impression is that the tin
horn was a poorly made, cheap imitation of a brass horn or a trumpet, of
sorts. The expression "through a tin horn" suggests playing sounds
intended for the real thing on a tin horn instead and getting just
noise. That's the idea--the rough equivalent of this might be "turns
everything to shit". So, "X through a tin horn", to me, suggests not a
simile by a mixed metaphor. Of course, unlike some list members, I was
not around in the 1860s, so it's all just supposition.

VS-)

On 4/4/2012 1:37 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
> Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>> Is "tin horn" just another way of saying "funnel"?
>>
>> I am thinking of the Tin Woodman's hat...
> Thanks for your response Dan. On the Wombats mailing list Suzanne
> Watkins offered an intriguing hypothesis consonant with your
> suggestion.
>
> [Begin excerpt from Suzanne Watkins post on Project Wombat mailing list]
>
> The tin horn has a number of manifestations in the 19th century from a
> child's obnoxious toy, a sailor's fog horn, or a nickname for cheap,
> pretentious gamblers and lawyers, but there was another use of tin
> horns from that bygone era in agrarian circles, that had a very
> practical use with animals.
>
> This tin horn used as a funnel would be shoved into the mouth of an
> animal and a dose of "cure" would be poured in the bell like end to
> slide down the throat of the beast.
>
> To give an example, in the March 1861 New England Farmer, page 150,
> was a "Remedy For Choked Cattle" that consisted of pouring a pint of
> warm lard through a tin horn down the throat of a bull who was having
> serious problem after swallowing a large potato. The end result was
> that the potato (and most likely much more) was "expelled" in about 2
> minutes after the dose was given.
> …
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 2:08 PM, Dan Goncharoff<thegonch at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> Is "tin horn" just another way of saying "funnel"?
>>
>> I am thinking of the Tin Woodman's hat...
>>
>> DanG
>>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org