tinker’s dam

Etymology:

• Likely evolved from “a tinker’s curse,” of the archaic, itinerant menders of tinware (tinkers) who made temporary patches or ‘dams’ when soldering in their repair work. The dams were quickly rendered useless. Tinker’s, known for their rampant profanity and (work that became obsolete), the phrase containing ‘curse’ eventually migrated to ‘cuss’ which turned into the (more habitually seen) ‘damn.’