DCHP-3

jinker

DCHP-2 (Nov 2010)

Spelling variants:
joner, jonah, jader

n. — Newfoundland

a person believed to bring bad luck.

Type: 3. Semantic Change — Jinker is a Newfoundland word synonymous with "Jonah", a term popular amongst sailors for people who bring bad luck aboard a ship (COD-2, s.v. "Jonah" (2)). The exact origin of the term is unknown, though it may derive from the verb "jinx" (COD-2, s.v. "jinker"). Alternatively, it may have been preserved from Scottish English, where a jinker is someone who plays tricks (EDD, s.v. "jink" (3)), and then semantically changed to a person who brings bad luck. While the term is seen most often within the nautical context, there is evidence of it spreading to other domains (see the 2004 quotation).
See also COD-2, s.v. "jinker", which is marked "Cdn (Nfld)", Gage-1, s.v. "jinker" (2), which is marked "Cdn. in Newfoundland", DNE, s.v. "jinker", EDD, s.v. "jinker", which labels it "Nfld.".

Quotations

1887
The hon. the Sheriff, in the course of his remarks upon the bill yesterday evening, had led him (Mr. S.) to believe that he was a master of a sailing vessel at the seal-fishery in days gone by: but he (Mr. S.) feared the hon. the Sheriff was only a "jinker," because he did not tell us of any great measure of success attending his enterprise.
1912
The President is not a jinker, for our best days real trapping this year came with him, and many of us were very busy.
1918
jinker there is such a word in modern English, connected with jink, denoting a lively, sprightly girl, or a wag, but among the Newfoundlanders the word must have had a different origin, as with them it meants an unlucky fellow, one who cannot or does not succeed in fishing [...].
1937
JINKER. A man known by experience to bring bad luck to the voyage; a Jonah. Equivalent to the American jinx.
1946
If the fisherman's catch is poor that day, you may be liable to the suspicion of being a "jinker" but whist! -- better luck next time.
1953
Two jinkers in our harbour dwell, adventuresome and plucky. . . .
1962
Things got so bad Thursday that people were saying a "jinker" -- a Newfoundland term for one who brings bad luck -- must have been responsible.
1978
Captain Job Barbour discusses the jinker. A Jinker, as this seasoned mariner writes "is a member of a ship's crew who is believed always to bring bad luck." "Of one thing I am certain," Barbour says, "and that is that all sailors and fishermen believe in the malign influence of the jinker and fear him."
1982
A jinker might scravel out of a desperate devil's racket, tumble face-down on to a horse's fart, and end up in an Irish sulk. The explanation, it turns out, is well worth seeking. Surely those are unbeatable words to describe an unlucky fellow staggering away from an intense drinking bout, falling on a puffball, and turning morose.
2004
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for quiet walks in the woods with your spouse, and it appears that more and more couples have taken to hunting together these days. Dear One, bless her heart, very much enjoys these types of outings. She loves to hunt, but she's not much for killing stuff. In fact, given that she prays that I don't see anything to shoot, every time we venture in the woods, I'd have to call her a proper jinker.

References

  • COD-2
  • Gage-1
  • EDD
  • DNE