dinkey

[mccfluff]

we have a guy in the pub who organise's a 'dinkey' each year essentianly its a savings scheme they pay into weekly and then get a proportionate share at then end of the year, but they call it a dinkey.
i associate dinky as something small or dual income no kids. i can't find anythign on the net and i wonder if anyone has comne across it before or whether its one of those local things.

I did ask the guy who does it but he doesn't know just that his dad did it, his grandad before him etc and that's what they called it. i'm in tamworth if that helps

thanks if anyone can shed any light, its one of those annoying things that niggle

[Quizmonster]

In certain English dialects, dinkum means a fair share, for example, of work. My guess is that that came from the Australian phrase, 'fair dinkum', meaning honest or square. I wonder, therefore, whether your suggestion about proportionate share-outs fits the bill. It may be that 'dinky' is simply a local variant of 'dinkum'.

[emeritus]

The more common name for these savings clubs around the UK were/are DIDLUM or DIDDLUMS if you look those up you may get a reference to DINKEY ?

[jno]

possibly the other way around (English into Australian), Quizmonster

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fai3.htm

[mccfluff]

thanks for your replies, i shall pass it on and see what they think, both ideas fit!

[Quizmonster]

The OED says the origin of dinkum is unknown, J, so I daresay the word may have travelled in either direction. The earliest recorded use of it in that dictionary is from a story published in 1888 about life in the Australian bush and gold-mines, so there would appear to be no earlier - written, at least - use of the word here.

I cannot imagine contributing to any financial arrangement called a diddlum, run by an individual! It sounds too much like these pools collectors who never sent coupons or money in on the basis that the chances of anyone winning, and therefore noticing, were so remote.

[Polly1958]

My Mum was in a Diddlum,each year she would start in January to save for the following Christmas.

[jno]

I wouldn't want to be diddled either, Quizmonster! I don't know about being dinked, though.

[Quizmonster]

Good lord, J...I can't imagine what you mean! I don't for a moment suppose you mean 'kicked gently over an opponent's head' and the Urban Dictionary offers over 70 meanings for the word.

[Quizmonster]

I meant to add above that - in America - 'diddled' has rather nice connotations!

[albalass]

we call this type of scheme a menage, which i think is french for housekeeping. a local saying for someone who is unorganised is... he couldn't run a menage...since the scheme is very simple to run.

[crisgal]

me and my mum "do" a didlum throughout the year. We've always called it "paying your diddlum"

[crisgal]

oh, and we're in lancashire