To express to others your own state of hardship. i.e. lack of
money,
job, place to live etc. Sometimes a ploy to garner sympathy. Also used to redirect mooches to another
person.
derived from the character tiny Tim in "a christmas carol"
person 1 - "hey man, wanna grab a drink?"
person 2 - "oh i can'
t, i'm
broke, my dog died, my back hurts,,...."
person 1 - "stop tiny
tim-ing me!"