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<blockquote data-quote="trplnkl" data-source="post: 476324" data-attributes="member: 13254">I used Ask.com and got that same response but then it was follow by:The problem with that interpretation is that all those accounts ignore an earlier phrase - &#039;a tinker&#039;s curse&#039; (or cuss), which exemplified the reputation tinkers had for habitual use of profanity. This example from John Mactaggart&#039;s The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia, 1824, predates Knight&#039;s version in the popular language:&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;A tinkler&#039;s curse she did na care what she did think or say.&quot;
 In the Grant County Herald,&nbsp; Wisconsin, 1854, we have:&nbsp; &quot;There never was a book gotten up by&nbsp; authority and State pay, that was worth a tinker&#039;s cuss&quot;.&nbsp; 
 So, we can forget about plumbing. The earlier phrase simply migrated the short distance from curse to damn to give us the proper spelling of the phrase - tinker&#039;s damn. <img src="/community/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/FeltTip/happy-very.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":happy-very:" title="Happy Very&nbsp; &nbsp; :happy-very:" data-shortname=":happy-very:" /><img src="/community/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/FeltTip/happy-very.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":happy-very:" title="Happy Very&nbsp; &nbsp; :happy-very:" data-shortname=":happy-very:" /><img src="/community/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/FeltTip/happy-very.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":happy-very:" title="Happy Very&nbsp; &nbsp; :happy-very:" data-shortname=":happy-very:" /><img src="/community/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/FeltTip/happy-very.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":happy-very:" title="Happy Very&nbsp; &nbsp; :happy-very:" data-shortname=":happy-very:" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="trplnkl, post: 476324, member: 13254"] I used Ask.com and got that same response but then it was follow by: The problem with that interpretation is that all those accounts ignore an earlier phrase - 'a tinker's curse' (or cuss), which exemplified the reputation tinkers had for habitual use of profanity. This example from John Mactaggart's [I]The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia[/I], 1824, predates Knight's version in the popular language:[INDENT] "A tinkler's curse she did na care what she did think or say." [/INDENT]In the [I]Grant County Herald[/I], Wisconsin, 1854, we have:[INDENT] "There never was a book gotten up by authority and State pay, that was worth a tinker's cuss". [/INDENT]So, we can forget about plumbing. The earlier phrase simply migrated the short distance from curse to damn to give us the proper spelling of the phrase - [I]tinker's damn[/I]. :happy-very::happy-very::happy-very::happy-very: [/QUOTE]

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