the.com/trinket
the small treasure your hand grabs while your brain begs you not to
means a small ornamental object or piece of jewelry of little real value but undeniable charm.
from From the 16th century, though its deeper roots are murky. One popular guess links it to the Old French 'trenquet,' a small knife — perhaps the kind a peddler carried among his trifles — but the connection is uncertain. The honest answer is that 'trinket' surfaced in English already meaning a small showy nothing, and where it truly came from is anybody's bauble.
- origin
- Possibly from Old French 'trenquet,' a small knife
- economics
- Gift shops survive almost entirely on them
- psychology
- Cheap objects trigger surprisingly strong sentimental attachment
- souvenir tax
- Vacations end; the dust-collecting magnet remains forever
for instance
victorian mourning jewelry — brooches and lockets made from jet and human hair, popular in britain 1837-1901
tourist snow globes — miniature souvenir domes with shaken snow, mass-produced since 1920s worldwide