Originally posted by @suzianneI didn't actually know what a 'tinker' was until I looked it up. It is defined as someone who travels from place to place mending metal utensils.
Could you explain why "tinker" is considered "offensive"?
'If ifs and ands were pots and pans there'd be no need for tinkers.' is an expression I seem to recall from childhood, although I don't have a clue what it means.
'Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man,beggar man, thief.' was another childish saying, maybe used when skipping or something?
Not to give a 'tinkers cuss' was not to care at all about something, and 'you little tinker' was a mild rebuke to a naughty child.
None of which moves anything forward really, but it passed a few minutes...
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Originally posted by @sonhouseNo, it wasn't. It's an ethnic slur against Irish and Gypsy (who consist of more than just Roma, who are trying to side-line the others) travelers, who often were in fact itinerant tinkers as well as horse-traders (and, yes, sometimes less salubrious trades).
retard
Calling a child a 'tinker' was short for you little stinker.
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Originally posted by @coquetteTrump was always slightly offensive (it's cruder thsn fart, anyway) it's just more so now.
Trump
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Originally posted by @fmfphilosopher
What other words have become deemed, in your lifetime, as being offensive - but only by some, and not by all?
film maker
capitalist
Originally posted by @shallow-blueTrump has undone the good work done by Trumpton.
Trump was always slightly offensive (it's cruder thsn fart, anyway) it's just more so now.
Originally posted by @shallow-blueYes it was.
No, it wasn't. It's an ethnic slur against Irish and Gypsy (who consist of more than just Roma, who are trying to side-line the others) travelers, who often were in fact itinerant tinkers as well as horse-traders (and, yes, sometimes less salubrious trades).
The term "little tinker" means naughty child.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/tinker
tinker
/ˈtɪŋkə/
noun
1. (especially in former times) a person who makes a living by travelling from place to place mending pans and other metal utensils.
•Britishderogatory
a Gypsy or other person living in an itinerant community.
2. Britishinformal
a mischievous child.
"little tinkers, we were"
Originally posted by @wolfgang59In which sense does this prove that 'Tinker' is a shortened form of 'Stinker'?
Yes it was.
The term "little tinker" means naughty child.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/tinker
tinker
/ˈtɪŋkə/
noun
1. (especially in former times) a person who makes a living by travelling from place to place mending pans and other metal utensils.
•Britishderogatory
a Gypsy or other person living in an itinerant community.
2. Britishinformal
a mischievous child.
"little tinkers, we were"
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Originally posted by @wolfgang59Yes, but that's derived from the previous slang meaning of tinker for a traveler, which was from tinker for the profession. A tinker could indeed, after those previous meanings, be a general ruffian and then a naughty child; what it never was was short for *"little stinker". That's a ridiculous, 2000s style of folk etymology.
Yes it was.
The term "little tinker" means naughty child.
Originally posted by @drewnogalI feel the same about these words - 'elderly' is a nice word for somebody getting old but not necessarily inactive. Pensioner is someone who doesn't work for a living any more.
I don’t mind the word elderly. The one I really dislike is pensioner as to
me it gives a mental image of an older person who does nothing with
their lives except collect their state pension payments.
Originally posted by @fmfI was going to say FMF, but I am trying to get off on the right foot in this New Year. 😉
"If IFS and BUTS were pots and pans, there would be no tinkers my friend'
The word "tinker" is considered offensive by some people.
What other words have become deemed, in your lifetime, as being offensive - but only by some, and not by all?
-VR