Date:    Tue, 9 Jun 1998 02:42:19 -0700
<br>From:    Bill King <wfking[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GOTNET.NET>
<br>Subject: Re: Tinner, tinhorn, Tin Jesus
<br>
<br>Tinner means fake or substitute for the real thing.  At the time, to say that
<br>someone was acting like "a little tin Jesus" meant that he was pompous and,
<br>probably, couldn't deliver.
<br>
<br>Tin was the perceived substance of substitution, much like plastic in the 60's.
<br>
<br>A tin horn is a cheap horn not made of brass and a tin ear can't hear the
<br>difference.  Hence, tinhorn = phony.  In comparison, "brasshorn" wouldn't have
<br>made any sense, nor does it now.
<br>
<br>Yes, a tinner was Welshman, and this was certainly nothing to brag about in the
<br>mining towns of Pennsylvania at the time.  It was probably as bad as Irish, and
<br>the Irish were stereotypically regarded as full of it, if my Irish relatives
<br>were correct.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>Gerald Cohen wrote:
<br>
<br>>     My thanks to the people who have responded to my query about the 1910
<br>> baseball poem, particularly to Gregory Downing for his 6/5/98 ads-l
<br>> message.  His comment about "off the reel" meaning "immediately"  is right on
<br>> the mark.
<br>>
<br>>     "Tinner" remains a problem, however.  The dictionaries give "tinner" as a
<br>> miner of tin, or a tinsmith, but neither fits the poem.  In the context
<br>> of the poem, "tinner" seems to mean "an unproven talent."  The poet says:
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>> "Sign me up--I'm now a tinner/But I've trained with all the good ones."
<br>> I.e., he hasn't played in the big leagues yet, but his preparation has been
<br>> excellent.
<br>>
<br>>      Here is part of the third verse, with the second and third lines of
<br>> interest now:
<br>>
<br>>      I can hit like Honus Wagner, I can steal like Tyrus Cobb,
<br>>      In the field I'm all the grapefruit [i.e. I'm the cat's whiskers], at
<br>> the bat I'm on the job--
<br>>               Never entered any college
<br>>               But I'm there on inside knowledge--
<br>>     [etc. etc. etc.]
<br>>
<br>>      So, "never entered any college"--i.e. hasn't played in the big leagues,
<br>>   "but I'm there on inside knowledge"---i.e., I've learned the game
<br>> elsewhere.  This seems to repeat his observation a verse earlier that he's
<br>> a "tinner" but has "trained with all the good ones."
<br>>
<br>>     Still, what all this has to do with "tin" remains a mystery. Maybe
<br>> Jonathan Lighter has something about this in his files.
<br>>
<br>> --Gerald Cohen
<br>>
<br>> gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu
<br>