Word: rinky-dink Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Origin unknown; possibly a variant of rickety (“of an object: not strong or sturdy; of a person: feeble in the joints, tottering”), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. The noun is attested earlier than the adjective. Pronunciation: /ˈɹɪŋ.kɪ.dɪŋk/, /ˈɹɪŋkiˌdɪŋk/ 1. A person who is contemptible or insignificant. Labels: US, countable, informal, uncountable Example: The point is that SCUBA diving is not for "rinky-dinks" ; it is for well trained people only, and then only in the company of other experienced divers. Example: Of course, most of the great players were at war and there was no need to pay the rinky-dinks, who were merely occupying uniforms until the studs got back. 2. A person who is contemptible or insignificant. Labels: US, countable, informal, uncountable Example: In addition to such creeps, there is also found in various organizations an assortment of longhairs, corny antiques, arky back-numbers, moldy mossbacks, rinky-dinks, tintypes, schmoes and schmaltzes of all flavors. Example: "I'm suing the Pacific Gas and Electric Company," he [Ty Cobb] explained, "for overcharging me on the service. Those rinky-dinks tacked an extra sixteen dollars on my bill. Bunch of crooks. When I wouldn't pay, they cut off my utilities. Okay—I'll see them in court." 3. Something that is not up to acceptable standards; something of low quality. Labels: US, countable, informal Example: But when we start getting really into the "rinky-dinks" of this thing is when we get over here in the columns. Example: It was during this interval between wars that Dan Fahey, for the words "solve this problem", used the expression "unscramble this rinky-dink." This became usual lingo in the 306th. Starting in late June of 1950, there were lots of "rinky-dinks to be unscrambled.[…]" 4. A miscellaneous object or thing; a thingy. Labels: US, countable, informal Example: [H]e, […] had just ordered a Sennett. […] He wanted no detachable top of pleb[e]ian characteristics; he wanted two regular bodies, one for winter and one for summer. And he wanted a special color and a monogram and a whole lot of rinky-dinks that cost him money. Example: Marilyn Monroe who was blonde and beautiful and had a sweet little rinky-dink of a voice and all the cleanliness of all the clean American backyards. She was our angel. 5. Deceptive or underhanded rigmarole; deception, trickery; (countable) often preceded by the: an instance of this; a deception, swindle, a trick. Labels: US, archaic, informal, uncountable Example: [H]e entered the realm of educational matters […] Two years of his life were spent at this elevating game, during which time he had only eighty-two fights with fond mothers who felt that he had been either neglectful of their particular children or had ruthlessly given them the rinky-dink. Example: What's the matter with [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt and his Plan? / All the other reformers have them on the pan; / Fattened them up with printer's ink, / Then handed them the rinky dink. 6. Alternative form of rinky-tink (“a tinkling, tinny style of music; honky-tonk”). Labels: US, alt-of, alternative, informal, uncountable Example: The [King] Oliver band had a new kind of beat, a real jazz beat instead of the ragtime rinky-dink. Example: Devon on the run, then. No longer playing rinky-dink in fag clubs, pumping the organ in skidroad missions, humping ivories for small change and beer.