HOMELY PHRASES
THEIR ORIGIN.
The T-square is an instrument used by mechanics when accuracy is required (says a writer in T.P.’s and Cassell’s Weekly). When anything is exactly right it “ suits to a t,” and so we use the expression when we mean to imply correctness in every way, as a piece of work would be if tested with the T-square.' “ A tinker’s dam ” has nothing to do with swearing. The dam is merely a pellet made of flour and water with which the tinker stops the gap he is mending until the tin has cooled. A somewhat similar expression, “ not to care a brass farthing,” has an interesting historical origin. James 11. issued a series of worthless coins—pennies, halfpennies, and farthings—and very soon the king’s brass farthings became synonymous with anything that was absolutely worthless. “ Pidgin ” English, the language used in the Far East as a means of communication between natives and foreigners, owes its origin to the poor attempts of the Chinese to pronounce
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Bibliographic details
Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1607, 14 February 1925, Page 7
Word Count
166HOMELY PHRASES Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1607, 14 February 1925, Page 7
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