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Jobb Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Does "tinker" mean "fiddle"?

Question: Does "tinker" mean "fiddle"?

Context:
Solutions for debt crisis go far beyond tinkering
By Dennis Cauchon and John Waggoner, USA TODAY
What if you didn't qualify for Social Security and Medicare until you were 73 years old?

What if the affluent got limited government retirement benefits — and "affluent" was $50,000 a year?

More detailed info:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-04-debtsolutions-cover_x.htm
  

Top answer

Not in the sense of a fraud type fiddle, no, but it almost means the same as 'play with something/make small adjustments to' type fiddle. They mean that just making a few little changes won't help.

— Nona the brit

  • Not in the sense of a fraud type fiddle, no, but it almost means the same as 'play with something/make small adjustments to' type fiddle.
  • They mean that just making a few little changes won't help.
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4 Answers
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Not in the sense of a fraud type fiddle, no, but it almost means the same as 'play with something/make small adjustments to' type fiddle.

They mean that just making a few little changes won't help.
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the affluent = the rich?

I suspect it meant "those who get paid with an affluent amount of money.
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Yes, the affluent are the rich, i.e., people who have a lot of money.

An affluent person has a lot of money, so an affluent cat is a cat that has a lot of money, and an affluent amount of money is an amount of money that has a lot of money!

So you can't say 'an affluent amount of money'. That is really too strange!
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