Show Not Worth Dam Not So Naughty asOh asOh as as' asOh Oh Scissors or Gosh GoshI When you ou say cay Its It's not worth a a. dam darn or Hes nes not worth a dani danl you are not using profanity not even modern street vernacular vernacular for tor that matter You arc aro simply using a R contemptuous expression almost as old us the English language It itself B elf Such was the tho declaration of oC Prof G George Georg org M. M Marshall before one of or his I classes at the University of or Utah study tudy- ing ing- Chaucer's Canterbury Tales This ThiR ot the tho word Is also the correct one as gleaned trout from the ex explanation cx- cx 1 of the tho phrase h by Professor ProCessor Marshall who ho IK Is an authority on the tho Saxon Anglo language In the days das follow following Ine the conquest In England when the chanting were th the newspapers of or tho people there was was' was wasa a 8 more or ot less lesA worthless tran transient lent I mechanic kno known n as al a B tinker explained the University lt of or Utah professor protessor This tinker went from Crom home to home from village mage to village from shire to earldom repairing pans pt and skillets Ills His method was crude Whenever er ene he repaired d a n vessel ho built bunt a cia clay dam damn around the holo hole before closing It Jt up with the molten moUen metal or whatever was nas nasI I used ed This cIa clay dam was known then as aa the tIme tinkers tinker dam So the people of oC the time when desiring to use uso a 11 figurative I expression of lIne s concerning anyone anone or anything declared Its not worth a tinkers dam As Is the custom of or language as time went on the tinker was dropped and Just the dam re re- re Hence when you Oll s sn say ay It Il I hi not worth H Q dam dani or He is not worth a adam dam you ou 3 are aro rB simply Imply using an expression that was old In Chaucer's age and one of the oldest vernacular expressions lons of oC the thc language |