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Idiomatic expressions for money | ||
Tags: Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7376 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes  12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 22 13 June 2006 at 6:33am | IP Logged | |||||
Amazing! I think I could use the gravy (who can't?) and maybe the bucks, originally I think they referred to beaver hides. For the Benjamins there should be a way too. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| andee Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7077 days ago 681 posts - 724 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Korean, French | Message 10 of 22 13 June 2006 at 7:39am | IP Logged | |||||
Monkey and pony and thought to have come from the British Raj. A 500 Rupee note had a monkey on it, and a 25 Rupee note a pony. How much truth there is to this I don't know though. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lucia Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 6820 days ago 146 posts - 147 votes Speaks: English, Spanish* Studies: German | Message 11 of 22 13 June 2006 at 1:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Spain :
una perra (a bitch = female dog ) "no tener una perra " = to be broke This comes from the names of two old Spanish coins,"la perra chica " and "la perra gorda ",that had a female dog engraved on them. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Alfonso Octoglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 6861 days ago 511 posts - 536 votes Speaks: Biblical Hebrew, Spanish*, French, English, Tzotzil, Italian, Portuguese, Ancient Greek Studies: Nahuatl, Tzeltal, German | Message 12 of 22 17 June 2006 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Mexico and some other American Spanish speaking countries:
Lana (wool) Plata (silver) Morralla (originally: a group of tiny fishes; coins of no value) Tepalcate (earthenwared dishes; coins of no value) Varos (?) Edited by Alfonso on 18 June 2006 at 12:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 13 of 22 18 June 2006 at 6:22am | IP Logged | |||||
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Spain, here is one I am fond of:
calderilla = small change 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| BookishAcolyte Newbie United States Joined 6768 days ago 29 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish | Message 14 of 22 13 July 2006 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Canadian English:
loony (a one-dollar coin with a loon on it) toony (a two-dollar coin) Someone told me, while I was in British Columbia, that it was because their government was "loony tunes" (as in the cartoon, I guess). I've also heard lucre, or more commonly, dirty lucre (which my dictionary claims comes from Middle English) and "large", which refers specifically to one thousand-dollar bills, I think. It's sort of outdated. Could come from "grand", or from the fact that, at the time when the term originated, $1000 was a lot more than it is now. You get alot of good outdated slang from gangerster movies. :D Not directly related, but "plastic" is a credit/debit card. I take it you're not using "le blé" (this last from fr.wiktionary, literally wheat). Also, a parallel expression: Roll in the dough = rouler sur l'or (literally to roll on the gold) In English we have "to work for peanuts" = to work for a pittance also: to buy for a song = to buy very cheaply to cost an arm and a leg = to cost a lot to cost the coat (or more commonly shirt) off one's back = to cost a lot to bring home/bring in the bacon = to earn all the money to support yourself or a family. You rarely see bacon meaning money except in this expression. Edited by BookishAcolyte on 16 July 2006 at 12:29am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7376 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 15 of 22 14 July 2006 at 1:37am | IP Logged | |||||
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In French we also have pour des prumes, litterally 'for plums', meaning that you have done something in vain, for nothing.
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| Spin_Dr Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 6911 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 16 of 22 25 July 2006 at 1:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
You've got the words right, but I think your British Columbian friend might have been a Conservative making a little joke. As far as I know, it comes from the fact that our one dollar coin has a loon on one side. The toony is just a play on that, considering it came out much later, after "loony" was already well established in Canadian English (the toony came out in 1996 or '97 I believe). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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