Irregular Webcomic! #2370

A tinker is literally someone who works with tinware, which includes things made of tin and other metals with similar properties and softness such as pewter. In particular, it is a contrast to a blacksmith, who works hard metals like iron and steel with the help of a forge. Someone who has a shop location to perform work on such items is a tinsmith, while one who moves from place to place looking for work is a tinker.

I'm not sure why they cuss so much, though.

Many, many people e-mailed about this one. All of them to say that the phrase was originally a "tinker's dam", which was literally a small piece of clay or cloth or some other disposable material that a tinker would use to plug holes in a piece of work while soldering, so the hot solder wouldn't run out through the hole. The idea is that you're saying something is not worth a small scrap of disposable material. From there it got twisted into "tinker's damn" - which is the common American version of this phrase - and from there to "tinker's cuss" - which is the version used most often in the UK.

While this sounds nice, a bit of research reveals that this is most likely a folk etymology, and not actually true. I don't claim to know for sure myself, but I'll hand over to a couple of well-researched etymological web sites that both agree on the point that the above explanation is incorrect, and in fact almost exactly backwards:

2022-10-22 Rerun commentary: There are other specialised terms for workers of various metals: silversmith (silver, obviously), brightsmith (also silver), goldsmith (gold), coppersmith (copper), brazier (brass), redsmith (a copper worker who uses tinsmithing techniques on copper), whitesmith ("white" metals such as tin and pewter; alternately someone who polishes metals rather than works them).

What I'd like to see are the following:

Wolframier - works in tungsten.
Alkalismith - works in alkali metals such as sodium and potassium.
Alkalineearthsmith - works in group 2 metals such as magnesium, calcium, and barium.
Quicksilversmith - makes items out of mercury. This takes real skill.
Galliumsmith - this metalworker uses a forge that can heat gallium up to the insane temperature of 29°C.
Pnictogensmith - works with arsenic, antimony, and bismuth.