Tinny refers to a character in The Wizard of Oz.

quote:

Tinny refers to a character in The Wizard of Oz.

I may live "Down Under" in The Antipodes, but we don't live under rocks (well, except in the mining town of Coober Pedy where they do), and The Wizard of Oz is as much loved here as anywhere else in the world, probably even more than in many parts of the world because of the late great Aussie entertainer Peter Allen's marriage to Judy Garland's daughter Liza Minelli. That's one of the reasons why the Broadway Musical about his life was called "The Boy From Oz".

Anyway I just wanted to know if "tinny", which has a usage in Australia, as lucky, "arsy", has luck coming out their backside in other words, had a similar usage elsewhere or not.

Thanks for attempting to provide an answer, Geoff.

I've never heard of tinny meaning lucky. The OED Online definitions include these:

quote:

.3. slang.
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tinny, adj.
3. slang. Having plenty of ‘tin’; rich, wealthy.
1871 Punch 14 Oct. 160/2 There's heaps of tinny fellows who'll be awful glad to give.

4. Austral. and N.Z. slang. Lucky. †on the tinny luck: by a lucky chance. Cf. tin-arsed adj. at tin n. Compounds 2, tin n.
1918 Chrons. N.Z.E.F. 7 June 205/1 Remarks are heard on the ‘tinny’ luck.
1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 50 Tinny, lucky.
1947 I. Douglas Opportunity in Austral. 90 Tinny—lucky.
1951 D. W. Ballantyne in Landfall V. 168 And this one's yours, Edith. Hey, you're tinny, aren't you?
1959 G. Slatter Gun in my Hand xvii. 229 He'll score because some people are tinny and always win.
1978 O. White Silent Reach xvii. 173 You'll have to be pretty tinny to pin down those blokes.

Michael Quinion of World Wide Words says tin was slang for money in Australia and New Zealand from 1836. This was because small silver coins in the 18th century often became so worn they lost all markings and resembled pieces of tin before they were recalled in 1817. He says that "The Bulletin of Sydney noted in 1898 that a tin back is 'a party who’s remarkable for luck'. Much later, tin-arsed appears as a term for a person who is remarkably lucky."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,

Thanks for the research Tinman. Seems our neighbours from across the ditch used it in that way too, but nowhere else it would seem.

I have found Michael Quinion's website quite useful many times over the years.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Well, thank you all three who voted for me.

Congratulations, Kalleh! I was one of your 3 fans. Transgender Joan was my 2nd fave. And Greg's hermit would have won my vote if on the poll.

I love this workshopping stuff. Here's my re-write:

There once was a kid from Ione
Whose technical skills were high-flown.
He programmed his shitter
To send farts by twitter
And drop-ship the contents by drone.

Yes I wish the hermit one, had come to mind earlier, but happy I put it out there anyway. You didn't like my further amendment to Line 2, "With technical skills so high-flown," making the whole limerick a single sentence, B35? You were most unlucky not to win after garnering 3 of the first 4 votes, but it looks like you only have yourself to blame.