Clanger, clanker, clunker, clinker.

Words that have confused me in the last 24 hours:

"Clanger" — seen in the bobdylan subreddit: "Favourite Bob ‘clanger’ but you really love?" The "u" in "favourite" alerts you to a Britishism. We get the meaning from the context: "Despite Bob being the greatest lyricist of all time, he’s also got some, in my opinion, clangers." I was excited to read this thread because it took on a subject Meade and I had discussed that very day: the 3 lines in a row that end in the word "table" (lyrics here). Anyway... clanger... don't we Americans say "clunker"? Or is "clunker" more of a car, the kind of car Obama offered cash for. 

"Clanker" — seen at Metafilter: "I’m being hustled by clankers"/"These agents are not trying to make money for their creators. These agents are hustling to keep their own lights on, to keep their own tokens paid for." Again, it seems as though "clunker" would do, but I guess robots hustling about make a more high-pitched sound, not so high that it's a "clinker." But I learn that "clanker" is a hot new word. Here's the NYT in August 2025: "How ‘Clanker’ Became an Anti-A.I. Rallying Cry/The term, which was popularized by a 'Star Wars' show and is rooted in real frustrations with technology, has become a go-to slur against artificial intelligence and robots."

By the way, the OED tells us that "clinker" is U.S. slang that originated in baseball — another word for "error." It now means: "An error; a failure, a 'dud'; esp. a film, song, etc., of poor quality. Also (occasionally): an incompetent or unsuitable person." I like this quote from the NYT in 1983: "Peer pressure combines with our fear of being wimpishly irrelevant to prompt most of us to include a few real clinkers in our otherwise carefully considered presents."

"Clunker" has meant a bad old car since at least 1930, the date of this quote found by the OED: "His Honor Rides—Mayor Frank Edwards as he appeared yesterday on his mighty charger for the opening of the Automobile Show of 1930, with Cap'n Dobbsie riding a ‘klunker’, one of the show's exhibits." It's meant "a failure, a 'dud,'" since at least 1963.

I think clanger, clanker, clunker, and clinker are all words based on sound: clang, clank, clunk, clink. I'll put them in order of pitch, low to high: clunk, clang, clank, clink. There, now, confusion conquered. 

Clink!

*Rides off Cap'n Dobbsie's klunker*