rinky-dink

Origin unknown;[1] 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.[2] The noun is attested earlier than the adjective.[1]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪŋkɪdɪŋk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪŋkiˌdɪŋk/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

rinky-dink (countable and uncountable, plural rinky-dinks) (chiefly US, informal)

1. (countable) A person regarded as contemptible or insignificant.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonentity, Thesaurus:worthless person

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:important person

   1. An amateur or someone who is underqualified.
      • 1962, Journal of Physical Education and Recreation, volume 33, Washington, D.C.: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 37, column 3:

        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.

      • 2001, Jim Dent, The Undefeated: The Oklahoma Sooners and the Greatest Winning Streak in College Football, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN:

        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.

      • 2005, Norman S. Pratt, Noble Conflict: A Vietnam War Novel: A Soldier Reflects on His Struggle with Issues of Morality and Integrity in a War Zone, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 178:

        We've been ordered to some godforsaken place near Pleiku—the whole damn company, you and me and them other rinky-dinks back in Qui Nhon.

      • 2013, Eric J. DeMeulenaere, Colette N. Cann, with Chad R. Malone, James E. McDermott, quoting John Wooden, “Introduction”, in Reflections from the Field: How Coaching Made Us Better Teachers, Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Publishing, →ISBN, page 15:

        A player one time said, "You never let me play with Alcindor ([Kareem] Abdul-Jabbar). I can do better if you let me play with him. Now you have me with some rinky-dinks." I told him one time, "That's what somebody said about you when you were in there. You were one of the rinky-dinks."

   2. Someone who operates unethically; specifically, a small-time conman or crook.
      • 1958, News and Views, New York, N.Y.: General Motors Acceptance Corporation, →OCLC, page 30, column 1:

        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.

      • 1996, Al Stump, “Extra Innings”, in Cobb: A Biography, Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Workman Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 19:

        "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."

      • 2000, Jim Green, “Cultivating the Selling Habit”, in Starting Your Own Business: The Bestselling Guide to Planning and Building a Successful Enterprise, 3rd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: How To Books, published 2004, →ISBN, page 88:

        The rinky-dink is the 'no problem' merchant who causes no end of trouble for everyone else in the organisation. He will promise anything to land a sale and in the process lands himself in the drink.

2. (countable) Something that is not up to acceptable standards; something regarded as being of low quality.
   • 1958, Proceedings of Progress in Measurement of Management Conference, October 31 – November 1, 1957, New York City, New York, N.Y.: Society for the Advancement of Management, →OCLC, page 84:

     But when we start getting really into the "rinky-dinks" of this thing is when we get over here in the columns.

   • 1970, Ford E. Young, To the Regiment: The History of the 306th Cavalry Regiment and the 306th Armored Cavalry Group, Washington, D.C.: National Capitol Pub. Co., →OCLC, page 96:

     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. […]"

   • 1975 February 5, Charls E[dward] Walker, quoting Charls E. Walker’s Washington Economic Report (volume 3, number 3), “Revenues [Supplemental Material]”, in Macroeconomic Issues and the Fiscal Year 1976 Budget: Seminars: Committee on the Budget, United States Senate, Ninety-fourth Congress, First Session […], volume I, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published May 1975, →OCLC, page 211:

     The candor with which [Gerald] Ford constructed and presented his admittedly depressing Budget deprived the press of one of its favorite pastimes, namely, searching out the "rinky-dinks" in the document. In the past, such "rinky-dinks" existed partly in highly unrealistic assumptions concerning Congressional action requested by the incumbent President, or by the donning of rose-colored glasses in making economic assumptions.

   • 1980, Mechanix Illustrated, volume 76, Greenwich, Conn.: Modern Mechanix Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 112:

     Soon afterward, the federal government, in effect, outlawed the rinky-dinks by adopting minimum-strength standards.

3. (countable) A miscellaneous object or thing; a thingy.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:thingy

   • 1915 November 24, Ray W. Sherman, “Dodging Responsibility is Dodging Progress: Carrying Only Half the Burden is Not a 100% Performance—Reilly’s Revelation Surprises a Young Friend”, in Motor World: For Jobbers, Dealers and Garagemen, volume XLV, number 8, New York, N.Y.: Motor World Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 17, column 1:

     [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.

   • 1973, Norman Mailer, Marilyn: A Biography, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, page 15; quoted in Sam B. Girgus, “The Changing Face of American Redemption: Henry Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, and Denzel Washington”, in John Belton, editor, Levinas and the Cinema of Redemption: Time, Ethics, and the Feminine (Film and Culture Series), New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, 2010, →ISBN, page 90:

     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.

   • 1973, Barbara Raskin, chapter 20, in Loose Ends, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, published 1989, →ISBN, page 288:

     Coco was definitely a fifties person, not even in the same ballpark as the truly liberated young girls who let their children run barefoot and bareass through the park with their little pink rinky-dinks bobbing up and down.

4. (archaic, uncountable) Deceptive or underhanded rigmarole; deception, trickery; (countable) often preceded by the: an instance of this; a deception, swindle, a trick.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:deception

   • 1901 June 6, “Insurance Fable. How to Be the Real Thing without Owning Mental Diamonds.”, in The Chronicle: A Weekly Insurance Journal, volume LXVII, number 23, New York, N.Y.: The Chronicle Company, […], page 270, column 2:

     [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.

   • 1911, Alfred B. Rollins, Jr., “Stereotype of a Crusader”, in Roosevelt and Howe, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 1962, →OCLC, page 31:

     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.

   • 1940 March 1, Leon Henderson, “Testimony of Ernest J. Howe, Chief Financial Adviser to the Insurance Section, Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C.—Resumed”, in Investigation of Concentration of Economic Power: Hearings before the Temporary National Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, Seventy-sixth Congress, Third Session Pursuant to Public Resolution No. 113 (Seventh-fifth Congress) Authorizing and Directing a Select Committee to Make a Full and Complete Study and Investigation with Respect to the Concentration of Economic Power in, and Financial Control over, Production and Distribution of Goods and Services: Part 28: Life Insurance: Operating Results and Investments […], Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 15436:

     You have this triennial audit or examination and in the cases of the fringe companies like we had yesterday, without any real notice to stockholders or any certificate of an auditing firm; if they are interested in manipulation or rinky-dink of any kind they have 3 years practically to get away from it unless somebody picks it up out of the annual report.

   • 1954 November, Fred Allen, “Part IV: Allen’s Alley”, in Treadmill to Oblivion (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book), Boston, Mass., Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company, published December 1954, →OCLC, page 176:

     millie. When the soup wasn't too hot Welby'd put his hand in and hold Sonia's thumb. / allen. He was givin' her the old rinky dink, eh?

   • 1959 January 29, Charles A. Wellman (witness), “Statement of Charles A. Wellman, Chairman of Legislative Committee and Executive Vice President of Glendale Federal Savings & Loan Association, Glendale, Calif.; […]”, in Housing Act of 1959: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Housing of the Committee on Banking and Currency, House of Representatives, Eighty-sixth Congress, First Session […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 304:

     […] I have serious question as to whether the Internal Revenue would permit a trade of unlike for unlike, that is trading bonds for mortgages at obviously higher prices than the market price without forcing the institution that does trade it to take the loss at the time of the trade, which, if they have to do that there is no point in going through this rinky-dink of trading bonds for mortgages, you just go out and sell the bond and take your loss and do what you want to do with the money, […]

   • 1973, The Bar Examiner, volume 42, Denver, Colo.: National Conference of Bar Examiners, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 79:

     It became necessary for the State Board of Law Examiners to overrule the local board on that point. We are proud of him in that he didn't go through the rinky-dink that he said he had an office in his home and would practice at night.

   • 1984 May 9, Arthur Burck (witness), “Statement of Arthur Burck, Merger Consultant, Palm Beach, Fl.”, in How the Financial System Can Best Be Shaped to Meet the Needs of the American People: Financial Deregulation: Hearings before the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-eighth Congress, Second Session on H.R. 5734: A Bill to Assure the Continued Viability of Depository Institutions […] (Serial No. 98-83), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 587:

     Then it [a New York Times article] goes on to explain all of the rinky-dinks that have occurred in the mergers and gold parachutes.

5. (uncountable, music) Alternative form of rinky-tink (“a tinkling, tinny style of music; honky-tonk”)
   • 1947, Bud Freeman, “Louis Armstrong, a Reminiscence”, in Ralph de Toledano, editor, Frontiers of Jazz, 3rd edition, Gretna, New Orleans, La.: Pelican Publishing Company, published 1994, →ISBN, page 119:

     The [King] Oliver band had a new kind of beat, a real jazz beat instead of the ragtime rinky-dink.

   • 1990, D[onald] M[urray] Fraser, “In the Aftermath”, in Bryan Carson, editor, Ignorant Armies, Vancouver, B.C.: Pulp Press Book Publishers, →ISBN, page 98:

     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.

   • 2013, John Kefala Kerr, Thimio’s House, Ropley, Hampshire: Perfect Edge, John Hunt Publishing, →ISBN:

     In his symphony, the form of the notes is the form of the moment, and the form of the moment is strings (lustre), horn (sheen), oboe (edge), harp (light) and glockenspiel (a touch of the rinky-dink).

rinky-dink (chiefly US, informal)

1. Of poor quality; amateurish, shoddy, small-time.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:low-quality

   That rinky-dink shelf is likely to collapse if you fill it with books.

   • 2007, Walter J. Boyne, The Yom Kippur War: And the Airlift Strike That Saved Israel, →ISBN:

     It was a rinky-dink way to run a war.

   • 2012, Thomas Guzman-Sanchez, Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era, →ISBN:

     We'd put on little rinky-dink shows.

   • 2014, Jason Lewis, The Seed Buried Deep, →ISBN:

     The more obscure and rinky-dink the country, the more anally retentive the officialdom, and Kiribati was about as obscure and rinky-dink as it got.

   • 2017, Dennis Lehane, Since We Fell, →ISBN:

     It's a rinky-dink operation that owns a rinky-dink mine in Papua New Guinea.

2. Old-fashioned, tired; also, shabby, worn-out.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:unfashionable, Thesaurus:deteriorated

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fashionable

3. Crooked, dishonest, underhanded.

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:honest

   • 1992, Newsweek - Volume 120, page 55:

     When NBC licensed his reruns to the Arts & Entertainment cable network without consulting him, he was incensed. "It was a rinky-dink deal," says a source.

   • 2012, Scott Pomfret, Since My Last Confession: A Gay Catholic Memoir, →ISBN, page 246:

     I asked Father Butterballino, “Why do it at all, if you're going to do it in this rinky-dink, sneaky way?” (phrased more diplomatically, of course).

   • 2012, Michael W. Cuneo, Almost Midnight: An American Story of Murder and Redemption, →ISBN:

     He'd paid a fine on that rinky-dink deal at the courthouse in Forsyth the very next day.

4. (music) Alternative form of rinky-tink (“tinkling and tinny”)
   • 2007, Johnny Stark, “Another New Beginning”, in From Poverty to Silvered Wings of Flight, Bloomington, Ind.: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 55:

     As I child, I learned to play on that old pump organ and so had my father. This piano was very special. It had an extra floor pedal which gave the piano a rinky-dink sound like no other.

   • 2013, Conn Hamlett, John Lee Johnson and the Gunslingers, →ISBN, page 13:

     The loud rinky-dink music and the wafting blue cigar smoke made the scene a dime novel cover.

   • 2017, Kenneth LaFave, Experiencing Film Music: A Listener's Companion, →ISBN, page 32:

     But Humphrey Bogart's Philip Marlowe has no sax sound tagging along behind him, and when love interest Lauren Bacall makes her entrance at a swanky nightspot, a rinky-dink piano accompanies her sway; there's not a sax in sight (or sound).

• rinky-dinky

• “rinky-dink, adj.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.