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of course, not worth a continental became a favorite American (US) idiom for being worthless. This from the April 2002 Explore magazine\, MY Word! section:

Not Worth...

by Dr. Gerald D. Sullivan

When one reaches into a linguistic bag of idioms to find an appropriate way of describing utter worthlessness, he will find a heaping handful of colorful expressions available.


During the War of Independence, American revolutionists were faced with numerous serious problems besides defeating the English in combat. The First Continental Congress had no monetary system in place or even authority to levy taxes. Out of desperation, Congress ordered paper bills of credit to be printed. The people called these notes Continentals. The value of this paper currency deflated until even a large bill had little worth. Thus the expression "not worth a continental" came about. Perhaps the expression not worth the paper it’s written on came into play about the same time.

The idiom not worth a rap has nothing to do with knocking on wood. Near the beginning of the eighteenth century there was a shortage of copper in Ireland. A not-too-bright band of counterfeiters flooded the country with bogus half-pence coins made of cheaper metals. The common people called these raps. Since the original coin had so little value, the counterfeit rap was absolutely worthless. Being not worth a plugged nickel has a similar origin, since a plugged nickel was also a counterfeit coin.

In ancient Rome, when soldiers were sent to foreign lands, they were given their pay plus an allowance to buy salt. Salt was considered an essential element in their diet and was often quite expensive. This stipend was called a salarium, literally meaning salt money. Of course the English word salary came from this source. To not be worth one’s salt means that a person has failed to earn his pay.

At one time it was common for minimally skilled repairmen called tinkers to travel from town to town making their living mending household utensils. When repairing a hole in a metal pan, the tinker would often build a small clay barrier around the hole to keep the solder in place. Afterwards he would throw the clay dam away. Some etymologists doubt whether not worth a tinkers dam came from this procedure and instead attribute it to the tinkers habit of swearing.

And oh yes, those crude menders of pots and pans did give their name to the expression tinkering around.

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