Not on Your Tintype!

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi there, Martha. Hi, Grant. I’m Jen Wassenberg in Omaha, Nebraska.

Hi, Jen. What’s up? What’s on your mind?

Well, I was calling because I was talking to my dad about a, well, I was talking to him and he used a phrase or an idiom that was not on your tintype.

Not on your tintype.

Yeah, and I had no idea what that meant or never heard it before. And so I thought I would call the experts.

How did that conversation go?

Yeah, so I was talking to him, telling him a very overdramatic long story involving a friend.

And when I was done, I said, what do you think I should do?

And he said, basically, not on your tintype would I begin to offer advice on this.

I felt like was rude, but I didn’t know why.

Because I didn’t know what not on your tintype.

So when I asked him, he said, not on your life.

So I confirmed, checked, it was rude.

But then he didn’t really have any additional clarification or idea of what a tintype was or where that phrase originated or anything like that.

So that’s what I wanted to know.

Yeah, he’s right that not on your tintype is synonymous with not on your life, which means no way, no how.

Okay.

A tintype, neither one of you knew what a tintype was?

No.

So my best guess was obviously something invaluable if it equates to your life.

But I was thinking printing press for some reason popped into my head.

So many valuable pieces there.

He thought, I think, photography of some sort.

But that was the best that either of us could even get close to.

Yeah, it’s an old photographic method used in the mid-1800s.

It was the kind of thing that you would get taken at tourist sites, maybe fairs or public attractions, because it was relatively instant.

The photos could be processed in just a few minutes.

And because they were made with a backing of iron, not tin usually, they weren’t very fragile.

Not like the glass-based daguerreotypes.

So you could carry them around, get your photo taken, come back a few minutes later, and there was a photo of you.

You know, at the beach or in the fair or whatever.

And it was nice.

Also called ambrotype or melanotype, stanotype, ferotype, bunch of names for that.

I don’t know why people are betting on their tintype.

I’ve never determined that.

Apparently, they were not that expensive, relatively speaking, but they were precious once you had them because photos were unusual.

So they might be the kind of thing that you would take and maybe give to your sweetie or that you would put in or near the family Bible, that sort of thing.

Okay.

All right.

So neither valuable nor made of tin.

But still fruit somehow means not in your life.

But precious, sentimentally precious.

You know, the kind of thing that you would appreciate because you and people you love are in the tintype.

Okay.

All right.

That makes a lot more sense.

All right.

Is it a common phrase by any chance or used often anymore at all?

Not really.

I wonder if he picked it up from his reading.

It dates back to at least the 1860s.

It does feel dated.

Yeah, really.

I mean, tintypes had a little bit of a comeback as people do retro photography.

And it still really works very well, and it’s got such a luscious, deep black look to it, just this clear black.

Yeah, it’s just wonderful to look at, but yeah, it’s pretty dated.

Maybe he picked it up from reading historical fiction, because it is often used in historical fiction.

Yeah, he is a very, very avid reader, and he often peppers his speech with just very colorful idioms or quotalisms, quotes and things like that.

And I know he does read a lot of historical fiction as well.

So that would definitely make sense.

Wonderful.

Okay.

Well, Jen, thank you so much for calling.

We really appreciate it.

Absolutely.

Thank you both.

It’s such a pleasure.

All right.

Take care now.

Bye-bye.

Thanks, Jen.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

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