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tinker

(n): a person who enjoys fixing and experimenting with machines and their parts
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verb
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2 months ago yarb said:

Citation on splodge (in the sense of gypsy).

6 months ago gangerh said:

Maybe a tinker just tinks.

8 months ago sionnach said:

To me, tinkerer and tinker have different meanings, even when tinker is being used as a noun.

8 months ago bilby said:

I can see the rule and I also note that English has never shied at having exceptions to rules: that which deters is a deterrent and so on. Tinker sounds fine to me and most dictionaries seem to prefer it to tinkerer. I associate it more with the profession than backyard mechanics, doesn't seem quite the same thing.
This word has a wonderful metallic sound to it.

8 months ago sionnach said:

tinkerer is not just 'probably closer'; it's correct. Use of tinker to denote both the action and its practitioner, on the other hand, is just a recipe for confusion. Someone who bickers is a bickerer, someone who puckers is a puckerer. The rule seems pretty straightforward.

8 months ago seanahan said:

I see nothing wrong the use of tinker as described by WordNet. tinkerer is probably closer, but I'd understand both.

8 months ago bilby said:

It's never over until Tinkerbell tinks.

8 months ago uselessness said:

I'm not sure about that, but one probably wouldn't want to be a tinker without a tinkerbell around. To stay alert, or something.

8 months ago bilby said:

Right, WrongNet. I've been having a thlink about tinker, who could conceivably be one who goes to the urinal for a tinkle and then finds himself (the herselfs are seated in Better Realms, surely) afflicted by aridity. Left holding the bag, as it were. Whaddyareckon?

8 months ago uselessness said:

It can't make mistakes. It's a machine, that's not its way. Clearly, you're confusing it with its cousin, WrongNET.

8 months ago bilby said:

Vot voz VeirdNET tinking ov?

8 months ago sionnach said:

Weirdnet is clearly wrong on this, mixing up the verb tinker and the noun tinkerer, one who enjoys tinkering.

Tinker is also the non-PC term used in Ireland for a member of the travellers, or gypsies.

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colleen (4679 words)
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