[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

from http://www.richmonville.com/a_short_history.htm

"Have you ever heard something being referred to as; "not being worth a tinkers damn"? It came thusly. In his wanderings, a tinker would pick up a small bit of clay, using it as a "damn" around a spot to be repaired in a pot."

Apparantly others beside me spell dam as damn. Oh well sick the grammarians on me. I still don't give a Tinkers Damn about the Travelers. I'm much more worried about coummunists, socialists, and Muslims who make Travelers look like pillars of hte community.

[Momma Lou]

I agree with you on the term "tinkers dam'. In order to solder a hole, a dam has to be created to keep the stuff from running all over. As to the spelling, I disagree. Damn is a curse, but I am unsure as to its history. Dam is, well, a dam, as in a beaver dam or a river dam.