Simile: like *substance* through a tin horn

[Laurence Horn]

On Apr 4, 2012, at 1:40 PM, George Thompson wrote:

> This put me in mind of "tinhorn gambler" n. a cheap gambler, esp. one who
> acts showily (acc. to the OED, which dates it to 1885).   Presumably there
> is an allusion here to a cheap horn made from tin, producing bleats and
> braying noises suitable for New Year's frolics, charivaris, &c?  There is
> no entry in the OED for tin horn -- it is alluded to, under horn.  Nothing
> defines "tin horn" as meaning "funnel".

Or "tinhorn dictator", evoking the 'contemptible, inferior' and possibly 'showy' aspects of the OED entry more than the 'cheap' ones.  No funnels involved here either.

LH
>
> (The old OED format was much preferable to the present one, when trying to
> locate a specific expression in a long entry.)
>
> GAT
>
> On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 1:30 PM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> On the Project Wombat mailing list Jane Steinberg initiated a
>> discussion of the phrase "like shit through a tin horn".
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> I used to work for a harpsichord builder who, whenever something went
>> absolutely perfectly, would say, "like shit through a tin horn."
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> The appearance of the word "shit" in print was restricted in the past.
>> So I think it makes sense, as a start, to gather evidence by looking
>> for variants of the phrase in the major text databases. Here are some
>> variants that appeared in newspapers and periodicals beginning in the
>> 1880s. I did not try to find the earliest examples. Details are below:
>>
>> Main question: Why do you think a tin horn is used in this collection
>> of similes?
>>
>> like butter through a tin horn
>> like water through a tin horn
>> like mud through a tin-horn
>>
>> Here is an example of "like butter through a tin horn" in 1887. A boat
>> was grounded on a bar in a river. Eventually, a strategy was found to
>> move the boat forward past the bar.
>>
>> Cite: 1887 October 09, Kansas City Times, Science in Navigation,
>> [Acknowledgement to Mobile Register], Page 19, Column 4, Kansas City,
>> Missouri. (GenealogyBank)
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Then the rope was tied to a tree on the bank above and the old Carrier
>> went over that bar like butter through a tin horn.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Cite: 1895, Senate Ex. Doc. No 57, Fifty Third Congress Second
>> Session, Topic: Hawaiian Islands, [Inclosure 2 in No. 36],
>> [Advertiser report of mass meeting, February 13, 1894.]  D. B. Smith
>> Is Again Nominated, Page 1229, Government Printing Office, Washington,
>> D.C. (Google Books full view)
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=vRs2AQAAIAAJ&q=%22tin+horn%22#v=snippet&
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> T. B. Severin then placed in nomination D. B. Smith. His name was
>> received with prolonged cheers, and was seconded by the whole league.
>> Three howls were called for on the nomination, the clockwork was again
>> put in motion and the league, as one man, signified its approval of
>> Mr. Smith. J. B. Atherton then moved that the nominations be closed,
>> which was carried, and D. B. Smith had been sent through the meeting
>> like water through a tin horn.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> In the domain of sports, the phrase "water through a tin horn" was
>> used with quotation marks in 1897. It was used to describe a runner
>> easily penetrating the defense of the opposing team and scoring a
>> touchdown.
>>
>> Cite: 1897 December 26, Oregonian, "Fought In Deep Mud: Multnomah Wins
>> Christmas Football Game, 10-6", Page 8, Quote in Column 2. Portland,
>> Oregon. (Genealogybank)
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Wilbur was given the ball, and, with fine interference, plunged
>> through Multnomah's line like "water through a tin horn" and scored
>> Portland's only touchdown.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> The phrase "like mud through a tin-horn" was used in quotes in 1906.
>> The word "mud" was sometimes used as a euphemism for "shit" in
>> periodicals. So the phrase "like shit through a tin-horn" may have
>> been used by a pilot in the following excerpt.
>>
>> Cite: 1906 December, The Rudder, Volume 17, Number 12, A Fast Trip
>> Down the Hudson by Walter M. Bieling, Quote Page 735, The Rudder
>> Publishing Company, New York. (Google Books full view)
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=CCYjAQAAMAAJ&q=tin-horn#v=snippet&
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> We got off rather suddenly; our start was most businesslike, and we
>> went out of the Albany Y. C. basin, according to the pilot, "like mud
>> through a tin-horn."
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> George S. Patton used the phrase on September 23, 1944 according to
>> the following book:
>>
>> The Patton papers 1940-1945
>> Author: George S Patton; Martin Blumenson
>> Publisher: New York : Da Capo Press, [1998]
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=RRolDuahqPMC&q=%22tin+horn%22#v=snippet&
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Question: Once through the Siegfried Line, will the advance be much
>> like the last push?
>> Patton: I think we will go like shit through a tin horn.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> The idea of a substance moving through a tin horn easily was used in
>> similes by 1887 or earlier. The substance used in the simile varied:
>> butter, water and mud all appeared by 1906.  Other options include:
>> huckleberries, dose of salts, grease, shit, gooseshit, molasses and
>> more. I do not know why a tin-horn was selected for this collection of
>> similes.
>>
>> Garson O'Toole
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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