The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 42, October 2, 2005, Article 31

ON MONEY SAYINGS

Howard Spindel writes: "How about: It ain't worth a
plugged nickel!"

[So what exactly IS a plugged nickel, anyway? I
found an answer on the Word Detective web site:

""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."
Word-Detective.com
-Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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