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David.Lehman
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 265
Location: "Lovely" Fresno CA
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 Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 7:53 am Post subject: Plug/Plugged Nickel... |
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Copied this from "Word Detective"...
"Not worth a plugged nickel" as an Americanism meaning "worthless" first
appeared in print about 1912, although we can assume "plugged nickel", along
with the similar "plugged quarter" and "plugged peso," were in common usage
long before they made it into print. To "plug" a coin means to remove its
center, usually because the coin is made of a precious metal such as gold or
silver, and to replace the missing part with a cheaper metal "plug." This
sort of larcenous messing with currency has been popular since coins first
appeared millennia ago, and Americans were plugging French, English and
other nations' coins back in the days before we had our own to plug. A
plugged nickel, while it may be accepted at face value by an inattentive
shopkeeper, is, of course, fundamentally worthless.
Incidentally, although we think of the nickel as the quintessential American
five-cent piece, in 1857 the coin known as "the nickel" was made of copper
and nickel and worth only one cent. A three cent all-nickel "nickel"
appeared in 1865, but the nickel we know today (again actually a
copper-nickel alloy) wasn't issued until 1875."...
DVD
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pj.ladd(at)btinternet.com
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| Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:56 am Post subject: Plug/Plugged Nickel... |
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To "plug" a coin means to remove its center, >>
Thanks David,
I was nearly there. I just assumed, wrongly` that the middle had been shot
out. Thanks
Cheers
Pat
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