An Irish woman's social, political and domestic commentary
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| GUBU An Irish woman's social, political and domestic commentary |
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Tuesday, June 10, 2003
PC isn't so new after all
Uh-oh. Hugh is on the case again. He tells me that my research on a "tinkers damn" is so 1877. Here's his view. "You are, I am sorry to say, wrong about the derivation of 'Tinker's Dam'. Alas, the explanation you give was also a politically correct invention, though a C19th one. The OED explicitly discounts your derivation, dating it to 1877 at the earliest. The expression 'not to care/be worth a tinkers curse/damn' is datable back to 1824 at least, and is a clear extension of the trend to intensify the earlier phrase 'not to care/be worth a damn', which trend dates back to at least 1763 (with a possible (disputed) link back to Middle English in the C14th), 'with reference to the reputed addiction of tinkers to profane swearing'. Indeed, the OED gives a lot of examples of decidedly politically incorrect phrases about tinkers, which have now passed out of current usage. Incidentally, the word 'tinker' dates to the C13th, and while the exact derivation is unknown, it is believed to come from the onomatopoeic word 'tink' (i.e., the sound they made repairing pots and pans)." posted by Sarah | 12:20 0 comments Tuesday, June 03, 2003 Tinkers Damn Have you ever heard something being referred to as; "not being worth a tinkers damn"? This term has become the victim of PC censorship. Both words (tinker and damn) are deemed politically incorrect since tinker is seen as a pejorative term for Traveller and damn is a curse word. However, this is a classic case of ignorance on the part of the allegedly educated since the term has quite a legitimate history. In his wanderings, a tinker (i.e. a wandering tradesman) would pick up a small bit of clay, using it as a "damn" (perhaps dam?) around a spot to be repaired in a pot. The damn helped to contain the heat in the area to be repaired as the tinker applied his soldering copper and melted a lead patch to the damaged area. Something not worth a "tinkers damn was not worth the small piece of clay he had picked up for nothing. Most companies did not signature their product until well into the 19th Century and by this time tin shops were starting to mass-produce with the newer mechanized methods. We are left to generalize by considering methods of construction, type of material used, and local styling. Even at that, a piece can usually be placed with a reasonable degree of accuracy. The large mail order houses such as Sears and Wards put an end to the wandering peddler. He could still be seen in rural areas well into the 20th Century, but in very diminishing numbers and his lot by this time was a hard one trying to compete with mail order. (source) posted by Sarah | 11:46 0 comments Dutch Auction Some trivia on this term. The descending-price auction, commonly known in academic literature as the Dutch auction, uses an open format rather than a sealed-bid method. It is the technique used in Netherlands to auction produce and flowers (hence, a "Dutch" auction). Unfortunately, the financial world has chosen to refer to another type of auction as the Dutch auction. In the financial world, the auction known as "Dutch" is what is referred to in the academic world as a uniform, second-price auction. Great confusion results. In this series of articles, the "Dutch" auction will mean a descending-bid structure. In a Dutch auction, bidding starts at an extremely high price and is progressively lowered until a buyer claims an item by calling "mine", or by pressing a button that stops an automatic clock. When multiple units are auctioned, normally more takers press the button as price declines. In other words, the first winner takes his prize and pays his price and later winners pay less. When the goods are exhausted, the bidding is over. Dutch auctions have been used to finance credit in Rumania and for foreign exchange in Bolivia, Jamaica, Zambia and have also been used to sell fish in England and in Israel. Dutch auctions are common in less obvious forms. Filene's, a large store in Boston, keeps in its basement a variety of marked-down goods, each with a price and date attached. The price paid at the register is the price on the tag minus a discount that depends upon how long ago the item was tagged. As time passes and the item remains unsold, the discount rises from 10 to as high as 70 percent. It is believed that the English system may be inferior to Dutch in one area. The key to any successful auction (from the seller's point of view) is the effect of competition on the potential buyers, and in an English auction, the underbidder usually forces the bid up by one small step. The winner may end up paying well under his valuation and thus the seller does not receive the maximum price. However, in the Dutch system, if the bidder with the highest interest really wants an item, he cannot afford to wait too long to enter his bid. That means he might bid at or near his highest valuation. (source) and from Amazon... Dutch Auctions In Dutch auctions, the seller lists a quantity of items for sale--five Barbie dolls, for example, or 20 rocks that bear a striking resemblance to George Washington. Bidders submit both how many items they wish to buy and how much they want to bid for each one. The final per-item price in a Dutch auction is determined by the lowest of the winning bids. The bidder who submits the highest of the winning bids is entitled to the quantity he or she specified, but at the lower per-item price. Remaining quantities of the item are used to fill other winning bids in the order of their bid price. Confused? This example should clear things up: Joe and Sue are the individual high bidders in a Dutch auction for lamps. Joe placed a bid for 30 lamps at $20 each. In a subsequent bid, Sue offered to buy 10 lamps at $65 each. Because Sue's high bid ($65) is greater than Joe's high bid ($20), Sue is entitled to all 10 lamps she requested at the $20 price (the lowest winning bid). Joe is entitled to the remaining 20 lamps at $20 each, even though his original bid was for a quantity of 30. There is usually more than one winner in a Dutch auction. Winners who are not the top bidder may win fewer items than requested in their original bids, but winning bidders are still bound to purchase the smaller number of items. posted by Sarah | 11:26 0 comments |
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