a tinker's damn

a tinker's damn

rude slang That which has little or no value. Fred doesn't give a tinker's damn about what anyone else thinks of him. I was so excited when my grandfather said he'd give me his car, but this old clunker isn't worth a tinker's damn.
See also: damn
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

tinker's damn

Something of no value. Itinerant tinsmiths known as tinkers were roughand- ready men who saw no reason to watch their language. They swore so frequently that their curse words had no value for emphasis or anything else, and so something that was said to be worth a tinker's damn had no merit or value at all.
See also: damn
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • tinker's damn
  • tinker
  • a tinker's curse
  • curse
  • not give a tinker's damn
  • not give a tinker's damn about (someone or something)
  • damn
  • not give a tinker's curse
  • not give a tinker's cuss
  • not worth a (tinker's) damn
References in periodicals archive
The fact that you personally do not give a tinker's damn about such things, the ambitions of other countries, is scarcely an intelligent contribution to the problems which your grandchildren must face.
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Everyone on screen is so shrill and selfish and irritating that it's impossible to give a tinker's damn about any of them.
!Dios mio!
Nobody cares a tinker's damn how anybody else votes or whether they vote.
Grisly fate of zoo animals
We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history that we make today.'
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