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From: "Zz" <a@b.c>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
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Subject: Re: On the tin [An Idiom A Day #1]
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Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 12:19:30 -0000
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Hello Enrico! Very good... This expression is related to packaged goods. If
you buy something, such as a food mixer, say, and it happens to be rather
good at mixing food (as stated on the outside of the box), then it does
exactly what it says on the tin. Some goods (particularly in the past) come
packaged in tin boxes... I haven't bothered looking up the origins, but this
one is quite straight forward. One could say that this idiom does exactly
what it says on the tin! Operating instructions not included.
Merry Christmas!
Zz
http://groups.msn.com/tefl/
Enrico wrote...
> On the tin.
>
> I read it in a Usenet post on news.software.readers
>
> "Have you implemented it and does it do what it says on the tin ?"
>
> Sadly, the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms doesn't report
> that idiom.
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