Talk:wooden nickel
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Rfv-sense: "(US, dated) The smallest amount of money imaginable."
This misses the idea that the item has not very low value, but zero value, except as a means to defraud. DCDuring (talk) 21:45, 15 March 2021 (UTC)
cited. Actually, most cites seem to stress the worthlessness rather than the fact that it is not a real nickel. When emphasizing the fake nature of a wooden nickel, the use is usally metaphoric. Given that wooden nickels (souvenir coins) are a real thing, and often collector's items,the term has only recently taken on connotations of fraud. Kiwima (talk) 04:32, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
- I wouldn't take the WP article at face value when they talk about the expression. They say that wooden nickels were in use in the 1930s. Citations of don't take any wooden nickels can be found in in the 1910s. In addition, there is an expression attested earlier involving wooden nutmegs used in the same way. In American discourse there is an abundance of expressions about frauds and cons, of which this is certainly seems to be one. Other examples include hot dog (the sausage), This isn't my first rodeo which was about the sideshows which were and are a lot like carnival side shows with plenty of hucksters. I think there are more examples out of H. L. Mencken's The American Language. DCDuring (talk) 05:10, 18 March 2021 (UTC)
RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 19:29, 25 March 2021 (UTC)