Dinky cars (toy cars)

Question

I came across this term while proofreading an unpublished poem by an Irish poet. The context is not important so I'll just say that it is clear that it means “toy cars”.

I Googled the term and see that it refers to a brand-name of die-cast toy car made by the British company Meccano starting in 1931, but, as far as I can tell, petering out in the early 1970s.

Is this a term that’s generally recognized, today, on both sides of the Atlantic? If I said “that’s a dinky car” in the US to an 18-year-old, would they understand? Or would the term only be understood by an older person (I’m Canadian and in my 40s, so I'm guessing older than me)? Would it only be understood in the UK/Ireland (/Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc.)?

In other words:

1. Is the term recognizable to a younger person? If so, in which countries?
2. Is the term recognizable to a North American? If so, of what ages?

And finally:

3. Is there a term for a toy car (other than toy car) that is widely recognized by English speakers of different ages and from different countries?

Answer 1

Although dinky is defined as "small; insignificant", as a North American speaker, I would think of a small, full-sized vehicle, like a VW Beetle or a Mini Cooper. A Matchbox car would be recognizable, though collectors might find it too specific if you're referring to die-cast toy cars, in general.

Edit: Some people may take issue with the use of a trademark as a generic term (which I would liken to frisbee), and although the company has its roots in the UK, it may not be well-known there. If you are wanting to avoid the word "toy", then perhaps simply die-cast car would work.

Answer 2

In the US, dinky would be recognized to mean

Of small size or consequence; insignificant.

It would not be understood to refer to a toy car by either an 18 year old or a 65 year old.

Matchbox has been offered as an alternative, but that is a trademark for a specific brand of toy car.

Scale model car has also been suggested, and that is used in the US, as well as the shortened version model car. However model car was, up until several years ago, primarily used to refer to plastic models that were sold in pieces to be assembled with glue and often painted by the purchaser.

Answer 3

As a Canadian (from BC) in my mid-30's, I recall my mom using this term (dinky car) when I was growing up. I didn't even consider that it might not be universal until reading your question just now.

I'd say that I agree that the only other term besides simply "toy car" or "dinky car" that I've heard would be a matchbox car.

Answer 4

I grew up in the UK (b. 1961). We had Dinky cars. We also had Matchbox cars, which were slightly smaller. Dinky cars later became quite collectable, but for that, they'd need to be pretty much un-played-with. In any case, the name is quite recognisable to me.

Answer 5

I grew up mostly in the United States, with brief childhood sojourns on U.S. naval bases in the Western Pacific. I bought die-cast cars from about the third grade on, and had never heard of the Dinky brand. Given that background, here are my answers:

1. Given that Meccano (Dinky) went belly-up in the 1980s, I would suspect that only someone who had been a small boy (or girl) in 1980s, and living in the UK, would have heard of Dinky. Anyone younger than that would have had to have had a relative who was an ardent collector of die-cast cars.
2. This North American had never heard of Dinky until now, and I graduated from college in the mid-1980s.
3. Speaking from personal experience with friends and relatives living in Europe, Asia, and Australia, I'd say that Hot Wheels would currently be the most recognizable term for "die-cast toy car" around the world, and probably the closest to being a generic term. (The "Choose Country" pull-down on the Hot Wheels web site lists 22 countries, including 4 English-speaking ones.)

When I bought a (real) MINI Cooper 5 years ago, I mentioned the fact to a nephew who was living in Singapore, who replied, "Oh, yeah -- I have a Hot Wheels of the Cooper S."

Answer 6

Dinky (dinkey) goes back to 1788 from Scottish dialectal dink "finely dressed, trim", so obviously the trademark usage came later.

Thus it's not the same as, for example, [Brits] using hoover as a generic word for a vacuum cleaner, even though many people might think of Dinky that way (or indeed, Matchbox or Hot-Wheels, other related proprietary usages).

A more generic term would be [scale-]model car. Note that some serious collectors would object to calling such things "toys". They're also sometimes called diecast models, which invariably implies "dimensionally accurate, small-scale" reproductions.

Answer 7

Old topic, but thought I'd chime in. I'm a late-30s Canadian from the east coast. I have a collection of about 300 toy cars that I received when I was a kid. I call them my Dinky collection even though there isn't a Dinky Toy among them. All Hot Wheels and Matchbox.

Answer 8

Usual 'sample size of one' disclaimer, but over on this side of the pond (Australia) in my social group (30ish) I suspect we'd understand dinky as an adjective to mean toy-like (shorthand for small, cute, dainty, etc).

Quoting from the Macquarie Encyclopedic Dictionary (1990 ed):

dinky (adj.). dinkier, dinkiest, n. pl. dinkies. Colloq, -adj.

1. of small size.
2. neat; dainty; smart.
3. a small tricycle
4. dinghy [from a British dialect]

One note I'd add to the Macquarie - it's not something you'd hear in a positive sense in my group - you'd be likely to hear dinky applied in a way that's less complimentary and more belittling to the object/owner. Example being to call someone's car dinky would generally mean you're saying that it's small (and not large, and spacious), and rather dainty (and not muscular or suited to the rigors of real world usage), so in that sense we'd be close to the AmE answer from @BiB.

Speculating, I'd guess that the negativity came about because of the demise of the Dinky. We retained the word and its essential core to denote something as a toy but instead of drawing from a positive comparison to a finely crafted work of art (lacking actual contact with a Dinky) we can only draw on the other idea of calling something a toy when it's not intended to be a toy - that's almost never positive.

Answer 9

I'm from Pakistan and I called all small toy cars 'dinky cars' when I was growing up - just like Americans call tissue Kleenex, or Xerox for photo copies, etc. I'm not sure whether I even owned any Dinky cars, of the brand, but it was just what you called them! Having read the above comments, where dinky cars are predominantly known as such in Britain, then I guess this could be part of the imperial hangover as well!

Answer 10

I was born in 1961 on the Jersey Shore. As I kid, I had a great collection of Dinky's. We would play with them for hours in our backyard under the tree in the dirt. We would make parking lots out of mud and park the Dinkys. That's what we always called them all. As I grew older and talked about my fond memories with playing with the Dinkys, no one seemed to know what they were. Then I went to a toy museum and saw a huge collection of Dinkys like the ones I used to play with. I wish I kept them! Brought back great memories! I even saw an old doll I used to play with called Miss Peep. (I still have mine but its leg is broken and pinned back to the torso). Yes, I am a female but was a Tomboy back in the day and loved those Dinkys. Now does anyone remember Miss Peep?