# Tinfoil? Not likely- **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030 "2010-12-13T20:45:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/41 "2010-12-15T15:49:40Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I was taught that rasslin’ was the fake stuff on TV, while wrestling was the real sport practiced in high schools. Hmm. If I were to make a distinction, I would call the probably heavily choreographed with the outcome often predetermined but nevertheless quite dangerous and challenging stuff on t.v. and the school sport ‘wrestling’ while calling what my cousins did while thinking they were Hulk Hogan ‘rasslin’. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/42 "2010-12-16T01:50:09Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I believe in addition to whitesmith and tin smith, the term “tinker” got it’s origin from people who make/repair stuff made out of tin. > > Re. fiberboard- I thought fiberboard was that stuff they make bargain furniture and wall paneling out of: a glued-together mass of splinters and sawdust. I don’t know about tinker, but that sounds reasonable. And you’re thinking about particle board, which is a decent enough material when it’s used properly. Hey, it beats just turning those splinters into toilet paper! ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/43 "2010-12-16T19:41:26Z")
Tin roof made out of corrugated iron? I thought they were steel. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/44 "2010-12-16T22:35:21Z")
They are. Corrugated iron is made of steel. Oh what a tangled web we weave! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/45 "2010-12-20T18:15:26Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > “Sarah, get me Mt. Pilot.” How about a classic 80? rock song remake? Barneys got a gun…dun dunt dunt da duh Don’t know what they done… dun dunt dunt da duh… ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/46 "2010-12-20T19:10:32Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > How about a classic 80? rock song remake? > > Barneys got a gun…dun dunt dunt da duh > > Don’t know what they done… dun dunt dunt da duh… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/47 "2010-12-20T19:18:01Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The Wizard of Oz’ Tin Woodsman is based on these, despite the anomalous fact that he rusts. So the Tin Man was really … **Iron Man**?!??!!! I’ve always said aluminium foil, but on the other hand, I say tin can. In French we said “papier d’alu” (aliuminium paper). ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/48 "2010-12-20T19:18:54Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > I noticed everyone calling it “tinfoil”. Well, it’s not tin. It’s aluminum This must come as a rude shock to the tinfoil hat wearers among us. (No wonder they weren’t working right!) ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/49 "2010-12-20T19:20:06Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Well, I did hear that old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why’d they change it? ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/50 "2010-12-20T20:01:31Z")
I refer to that thin stuff on a roll as “foil,” unless a crazy person puts it on their head to keep aliens from reading their mind. Then it’s “Tin foil” as in “those tin foil hat people.” Now 'splain to me why these phrases exist: Ink pen – don’t all pens use ink? Tuna fish – is there any other kind of tuna? Honda car – my guess is to distinguish it from Honda bikes. My brother had a “Honda car.” It was always called the Honda car. Never just a Honda or a car. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/51 "2010-12-20T20:39:07Z")
> [@kath94](#): > > Now 'splain to me why these phrases exist: > > Ink pen – don’t all pens use ink? My guess is that “ink pen” was originally a retronym that was developed when ballpoint pens (biros, dot pens, etc.) came out. The new pens already had ink (or really some kind of gel) in them, whereas prior pens required you to have a bottle of ink with you – thus, ink pens. > [@](#): > > Tuna fish – is there any other kind of tuna? > Honda car – my guess is to distinguish it from Honda bikes. My brother had a “Honda car.” It was always called the Honda car. Never just a Honda or a car. These are merely specifying what kind of fish and car is being talked about. It’s not much different from cheddar cheese, pickup truck, 10-speed bike, T-bone steak, etc. Sometimes the specifications are kept and sometimes they’re dropped away. It’s arbitrary. For example, we no longer say hamburger sandwiches and french-fried potatoes! ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/52 "2010-12-20T20:52:35Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Why’d they change it? The Dutch lost a war. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/53 "2010-12-20T20:58:26Z")
I call it “tinfoil”, but on my shopping list it appears as “alum. foil”. As I’m writing it, and reading it in the store, my brain is saying “tinfoil”, but that isn’t what is on the list. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/54 "2010-12-20T21:00:02Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > 😕 There’s a 80s? rock song by Guns and Roses? with the line "Jamies got a gun…"which is about one very upset young lady with a gun. Putting Barney Fiff in there instead would be quite funny I think. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/55 "2010-12-20T21:02:06Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > The Dutch lost a war. Sorry, Lumpy. Wrong answer. _Why they changed it I can’t say People just liked it better that way!_ ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/56 "2010-12-20T23:40:31Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Sorry, Lumpy. Wrong answer. Am I being whooshed? New Amsterdam was seized by England and renamed New York, precipitating the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Netherlands briefly retook it but finally signed a peace treaty letting it revert to English control. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/57 "2010-12-21T00:00:06Z")
No, you’re not being whooshed. You’re just culturally uninformed. 😉 [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vankaSlfSr0) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/58 "2010-12-21T00:57:19Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > My grandma in Virginia called it tin foil when I was a kid in the 80s. But we called it aluminum foil. Actually, we called it by its ghetto-fab name, “lemon-n-foil”. Some other ghetto-fab classic pronunciations were: > > ‘Stinchin cord’ for ‘extension cord’ > ‘rasslin’ for ‘wrestling’ > ‘phome’ and ‘spoom’ for ‘phone and spoon’ > > Good times. Good times. My grandma in Georegia would’ve told y’all that that metal stuff that comes off the roll is called “fawl”. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/59 "2010-12-22T02:43:48Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > So the Tin Man was really … **Iron Man**?!??!!! Yes, but then he was turned to _ **steel** _. That was in the great magnetic field. When he traveled time for the future of mankind. Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030/60 "2010-12-22T13:00:03Z")
my family called it “tinfoil” growing up outside of Akron, Ohio. Although we all knew it was no longer made of tin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinfoil-not-likely/564030.md?page=4)