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#171452 - 11/19/07 10:53 AM Pinchbeck
midimil Offline
stranger


Registered: 11/19/07
Posts: 1
I was always intrigued by the line from the song "Ya Got Trouble" from the musical "The Music Man" that went like this: "Well the next thing you know your son is playing for money in a pinchback suit..."

I always assumed that was "pinchback" connoted a style of tailoring, perhaps with pleats on the back of the jacket. Maybe the word, however, was actually "pinchbeck," as in a fabric that was some sort of counterfeit of a more expensive fabric.
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#171453 - 11/19/07 11:11 AM Re: Pinchbeck [Re: midimil]
tsuwm Offline
Carpal Tunnel


Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 8655
Loc: this too shall pass
pinch-back over pinchbeck.

-joe (six to nothin') friday
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#171454 - 11/19/07 12:39 PM Re: Pinchbeck [Re: tsuwm]
etaoin Offline
Carpal Tunnel


Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6081
Loc: Vermont
Originally Posted By: tsuwm
pinch-back over pinchbeck.

-joe (six to nothin') friday


yeahbut®
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#171455 - 11/19/07 12:54 PM Re: Pinchbeck [Re: etaoin]
BranShea Offline
Pooh-Bah


Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 2007
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
Webster online sure has a lot of synonyms

Deception: Untrue; mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide, pseudo, spurious, supposititious, so-called, pretended, feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious;bastard; surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated, sophisticated; unsound, rotten at the core; colorable; disguised; meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated; catchpenny; Brummagem.

Ornament: Finery, frippery, gewgaw, gimcrack, tinsel, spangle, clinquant, pinchbeck, paste; excess of ornament; (vulgarity); gaud, pride.
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#171456 - 11/19/07 01:33 PM Re: Pinchbeck [Re: BranShea]
etaoin Offline
Carpal Tunnel


Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6081
Loc: Vermont
looking up both pinchback and pinchbeck, it seems to me the word in the song would/should be pinchbEck:

adjective - appearing valuable, but actually cheap or tawdry.

though perhaps it's not.

Edited by etaoin (11/19/07 01:35 PM)
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#171458 - 11/19/07 03:42 PM Re: Pinchb[e/a]ck Trouble [Re: tsuwm]
Aramis Offline
addict


Registered: 05/17/05
Posts: 419
Loc: SE US
May want to consider that source includes "three-reail billiard shot". So many posted lyrics are flawed, as if recorded in text from listening to the selection.
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#171459 - 11/19/07 03:47 PM Re: Pinchb[e/a]ck Trouble [Re: Aramis]
etaoin Offline
Carpal Tunnel


Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6081
Loc: Vermont
Originally Posted By: Aramis
May want to consider that source includes "three-reail billiard shot". So many posted lyrics are flawed, as if recorded in text from listening to the selection.


hence my yeahbut®.
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#171464 - 11/19/07 04:53 PM Re: Pinchb[e/a]ck Trouble [Re: etaoin]
tsuwm Offline
Carpal Tunnel


Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 8655
Loc: this too shall pass
hence my "six to nothin'" notation; to wit, try googling "for money in a pinchback suit" (or pinch back / pinch-back) vs. the alternative. the "s are important.

of course, everyone could have it wrong.

-ron o.

edit: there is one(1) hit for pinchbeck -- it seems to be from an NPR radio transcript, which you can buy.

Edited by tsuwm (11/19/07 05:07 PM)
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#171467 - 11/19/07 05:41 PM Re: Pinchb[e/a]ck Trouble [Re: tsuwm]
etaoin Offline
Carpal Tunnel


Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6081
Loc: Vermont
good stuff from WWW: pinchbeck

and t, that's what I figured you meant.
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#174227 - 03/05/08 01:28 AM Re: Pinchbeck [Re: midimil]
The Pook Offline
addict


Registered: 02/20/08
Posts: 592
Loc: Tasmania
Pinchbeck is a metal alloy. It is used for things like photo frames. Its main use was in the 19th century for the preserver matts and frames around daguerreotypes and ambrotypes. When used in this context in America it is called Preserver. Pinchbeck is its British name.

Here is an example of a Pinchbeck preserver frame from my daguerreotype collection:

Edited by The Pook (03/05/08 01:32 AM)
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