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tap of work

  • 13-12-2004 2:24pm
    #1
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭


    can anyone explain where this saying came from?
    cheers
    N


Comments

  • #2
    Fudger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 289 ✭✭Fudger


    some plumber came up with it................... bdum bdum....tish


  • #3
    seamus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Dunno, probably came from blacksmiths, tapping out forged iron. Someone who'd done the bare minimum had just done "a tap of work".


  • #4
    L5
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,951 ✭✭✭L5


    nixmix wrote:
    can anyone explain where this saying came from?
    cheers
    N


    who cares


  • #5
    p.pete
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,269 ✭✭✭p.pete


    L5 wrote:
    who cares
    etimologists everywhere.


  • #6
    ixoy
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 18,002 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


    A Google search on it seemed to show it coming up more often on Irish sites than anything else, so it might be more popular here (it was on a few UKs and Aus sites but hardly any US ones).

    I'd go with Seamus' suggestion that it could quite possibly relate to a blacksmith/ironmonger's tapping of iron. That'd be a mundane repetitive process that, I imagine, could sometimes be left to the less skilled apprentices. To not even do this would suggest that you're doing very little at alll.

    The origin of the word itself - tappen (to draw off from Middle English) - woudln't seem to give an indication so I'll assume it's related to a profession.


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