Not to worry.
I like the sense of skin-- as in 'to skin' as in flay conflated with flint
as in 'stony hard' meaning someone who is ruthless about de-cashing the
unwary. As opposed to the more passive modern sense of someone who just
won't spend. Poetry does the rest...
P
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to
> poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Robin Hamilton
> Sent: 30 October 2006 03:00
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: etymology question
>
> Oops, sorry, my previous post on this topic wasn't meant to
> be sent. Hit the wrong key. Working notes rather than anything else.
>
> :-(
>
> Please ignore.
>
> R.
>
> ****************************************************
>
> Subject: Re: etymology question
>
>
> SKINFLINT
>
> One who would skin a flint to save or gain something; an
> avaricious, penurious, mean or niggardly person; a miser.
> [etc]
>
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