the.com/tinkering
the gateway drug that turns a broken toaster into a lifelong obsession
means Fiddling with or making small adjustments to something, often a machine or device, in a casual, experimental, try-and-see way rather than by formal repair.
from From 'tinker,' the itinerant menders of pots and kettles who roamed villages patching holes in metalware. The trade name likely comes from the tink-tink sound of their small hammers tapping at tin. Because tinkers were known for fussing endlessly with bits of metal — and were sometimes suspected of doing more poking than fixing — the verb 'to tinker' came to mean working away at something in an unhurried, exploratory fashion. The word dates back several centuries in English.
- origin
- named for medieval traveling repairers of tin pots
- slur turned badge
- tinker was once an insult for restless meddlers
- how progress works
- most inventions came from poking, not planning
- brain effect
- hands-on fiddling sharpens problem-solving better than reading
- famous tinkerers
- the Wright brothers ran a bicycle shop
steve wozniak's garage — built the first apple computer with steve jobs in los altos, california in 1976
wright brothers bicycle shop — orville and wilbur wright built and tested aircraft components in dayton, ohio before first flight in 1903