"Tinkle"

sceptre

Hmmm, thought this would be the best place to toss this out for discussion.

When I'm telling someone that I'll ring them I say "I'll give you a tinkle"

Turns out I've been doing this for years and never thought that it was odd. My siblings (obviously thinking it was funny and that other people would find it funny if they didn't stop me saying it) only mentioned the oddness of it all last week. I assume the reason I use it is something to do with the tinkling noise a bell (phone ringing) makes. They're reasonably sure that no-one else uses the phrase at all ("tinkling" being, er something else) and that I should stop using it.

Two questions:
1. Anyone else use the phrase at all?
2. Has everyone secretly been laughing at me for years?

Gordon

/me fesses up. Ok, sorry, it doesn't exist and I've been tittering at you for some time now! hee hee

Actually, I used to say that, its perfectly reasonable. Nowadays it has transformed into - "I'll give you a buzz later". Perfectly fine imo.

Tinkle was an old word for peeing that I used to use but then I moved tinkle over to the telephonic usage. I have now replaced tinkle with "call" or "shout".

You are keeping the old ways alive sceptre!

Clintons Cat

its a fairly old phrase,my grampapy used to use it,I think it came from the days of Domestic Servants...in the old days when the lord of the manner wished to communicate with "those down stairs" he would pull on a string that would ring a small bell in the servants area.Hence the phrase "you Rang Milord".

Giving some one a tinkle was there for an onomatopoeical interpretation which predated the telephone that was appropriated by the new technology.

*whoah bad grammer alert

Victor

Originally posted by Gordon
"I'll give you a buzz later".

Now much used by drug dealers

thedrowner

brilliant

if you said it to me i would know what you were talking about, and i wouldn't think it as odd, although it would cross my mind that tinkle means pee. hee hee.

CuLT

If you said it to me I would think you were preparing to urinate on me...