OK, got a questionf fer all y'all ...

The other day, when I got back to my HQ building, after going out for something, as I passed one of the offices, in the executive wing, I told the girl that I was like the proverbial bad penny, and was back.

She looked confused, and I asked her why, and she said that she did not know what I meant by that statement.  I asked her if she had ever heard of the saying: "Like a bad penny, it always comes back."

She had never heard that saying before.

That got me to thinking, how many HAVE heard of it?  Is it my age, or the local where I grew up lived my early life (I refuse to grow up) that I know of that phrase?

The gal that said she never heard of it, is 33 years old, and lived her life, so far, here in North Carolina.

I have no idea where the phrase comes from, or exactly what it means, but it seems I have always known of the saying.  Is it age or location related?

Are there others that have never heard of it?

Chuck

> "Like a bad penny, it always comes back."
I've heard of it and since I'm German I doubt it actually has to do with the location.
Though I refuse to think it is age related - I'm not an old fart like you  ;D

Oliver

Chuck

I know it too but I'm not young!.

I think it is British in origin like lots of weird sayings are
Something to do with coin forgery????? i.e. if you counterfeit a coin it will come back to you

W

Bad Penny. Bad, bad Penny.

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Brew, you're Baaad!

I knew it growing up in the 60's...

Ray

She might've recognized the Poltergiest II catch phrase, "they're baaaaack"




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A bad penny always turns up


Our mistakes return to haunt us; also, nasty people have a way of reappearing.

I have never heard that before.

Yep, heard it, but from my Grandma when I was growing up.

I've heard it, but I hang out with old people...... ;D

I did a Google search and found the following information:


Quote:

Proverbs: A bad penny always turns up The proverb, also used allusively in simile and metaphor (see quot. 1766), refers to the predictable, and usually unwelcome, return of a disreputable or prodigal person after some absence.    Like a bad penny it returnd, to me again.    [1766 A. Adams in L. H. Butterfield et al. Adams Family Correspondence (1963) I. 55]    Bring back Darsie? little doubt of that—the bad shilling is sure enough to come back again.    [1824 Scott Redgauntlet II. ii.]    Just like as not he'll be coming back one of these days, when he's least wanted. A bad penny is sure to return.    [1884 R. H. Thorpe Fenton Family iii.]    Who's dead, when and what did he die of? Turn up like a bad penny.    [1922 Joyce Ulysses 149]    ‘I miss Bart.’ ‘Oh, a bad penny always turns up again.’    [1941 A. Updegraff Hills look Down vi.]    ‘Stop worrying. The bad pennies always turn up.’ ‘Oh, Adrian, I don't think she's a bad penny, not really.’    [1979 G. Mitchell Mudflats of Dead iii.] Related to: wrong-doers

It looks like it has been around even longer than BarbaraD ... And that is a LONG time!

Chuck

I resemble that OLD remark Chuckles...... (and will get you back for it!)

I'm with you on this one -- WHERE THE HELL HAVE THESE KIDS BEEN ALL THEIR LIVES????

One of my friends (a teacher) was talking to some cheerleader and they were chanting "Two Bits, Four Bits...." She asked them if they knew what 2 bits was? They looked at her like she'd just stepped off a space ship. She got out her bag of quarters and tried to EXPLAIN it to them - they DIDN'T CARE!

But the older I get the more blank stares I get when I pop out with something I think is perfectly normal (things I've heard and said all my life). These kids just remind me of Ned and the First Reader (and I'll bet no one under 50 has a clue what that one means either :-? ).

Oh well, back to counting my dust-bunnies.....

Hugs BD

my mother used to use tha saying alot when i was younger

BarbaraD wrote on Aug 29^th, 2008 at 11:05am:

One of my friends (a teacher) was talking to some cheerleader and they were chanting "Two Bits, Four Bits...." She asked them if they knew what 2 bits was? They looked at her like she'd just stepped off a space ship. She got out her bag of quarters and tried to EXPLAIN it to them - they DIDN'T CARE! But the older I get the more blank stares I get when I pop out with something I think is perfectly normal (things I've heard and said all my life). These kids just remind me of Ned and the First Reader (and I'll bet no one under 50 has a clue what that one means either :-? ).

You say that as if it's a bad thing....

Most folks don't know what a fortnight is either.

Do you also realize that most of the kids out there have no idea what it is to actually "DIAL" a phone number?!?!

I see a common thread.  Most of you who have heard of it were around when Lincoln was president

kevmd wrote on Aug 29^th, 2008 at 12:26pm:

Most of you who have heard of it were around when Lincoln was president

But I was SO much younger when that youngun got elected!  I was only 736 years old that year ...

I've heard of the saying before. Not sure from where though... And fortnight is still a commonly used term here in the UK.

C'mon, you've never had a bad penny?  Like, the ones that are all bent up or painted, whatever.  As a shopkeeper, I have seen things like these come back day after day, and no matter who you try to give them to as change, the same person comes back with it a couple days later and guess what they use to pay?  The bad penny.

Actually, apart from quarters, I rarely bought change and I think the same change was floating around in my place for 15 years... out one day, back the next.

Chuck,

You were probably the waiter at the "Last Supper" :D

Send me all of your bad pennies everyone! I'll take em!

Miserly Jimmers

I suppose it's one of those things that will pop up in nostalgia books written by our grandchildren recalling those funny old boomers.

My latest experience was at coffee shop....not Starbucks....After forking over $1.45 for a cup.....cheap for designer coffee these days,  I told her that when I was a kid, coffee was a dime with a free refill. If you wanted a doughnut with it, it was a quarter. She probably thought I escaped from a home somewhere. On the way home you could stop and fill up for twenty six cents a gallon

God I'm old.

Charlie

And I'll bet you didn't take no WOODEN NICKLES either did ya?

Hugs BD

Seeing as I have a statistical sample of youth at my disposal I took a poll.

My six older kids (27, 25, 24, 22, 19 and 17) all report they've heard the saying.  Say they heard it from their Grandfather who lived with us for over 20 years.  

He passed away in 2005 and suffered from Dementia so, mentally, he wasn't really here from say 2003.

I asked my younger kids (10, 9, 7, 5) and they all looked at me like I had three heads.  "How can a penny be bad?  It's metal" said one.  So apparently Grampa hadn't used that phrase in quite some time.

-Dennis-

Maybe my NEXT book will be "Old Sayings that Have Gone By the Wayside" -- Ya'll send me your old sayings and I'll see what I can do...

My grandson is always coming up with "excuses" for "why" he did things. I told him one day to just tell me, "Aunt Bessie's cow died" - that would work about as good as any other excuse and make about as much sense. Now everytime he starts to tell me "why", he just takes a breath and says, "Granny, Aunt Bessie's cow died!" I explained to him that excuses are like rocking chairs - they give you something to do, but don't get you anywhere... his MOTHER had never heard that one (of course his MOTHER has never heard a lot of things!!!)

Ok, here's my THEORY -- Kids need to spend a LOT more time with their OLDER grandparents..... They're missing OUT on too much HISTORY!!!

Hugs BD

Barb, tell him the REAL comment about excuses:

Excuses are like a$$holes.  Everyone has them, and they all stink."

I've heard of it, heard people tell me, and a bunch of other sayings. Barb, you should put a book together, would probably be popular with the older crowd ( not me, I'm not old, I'm only 29!).

I was always interested in old sayings. Kids today haven't heard them, and don't really care. Of course, there was the girl who lost her remote to unlock her car, and didn't realize the ignition key would unlock the door. Someone had to show her.

Hey - we're the SAME age (I've been having ANNIVERSARIES of my 29th birthday for ... well a number of years now)...

And Chuck I already told him THAT one -- his Dad "chastised" me for telling him that. He's not too crazy with the NEW one, but what the hell does he know?

And he hates it when he starts chewing Caleb out and Caleb reaches over and pats him, smiles and says, "Bless your little heart Dad." (Another little exerpt from Granny's book of "How to Drive your Parents NUTZ!")

What's really funny, his parents are calling me nightly to "talk" to Caleb. Seems he's getting in trouble at school and won't "talk" to them (hell, they haven't listened to him in 6 years - why WOULD he talk to them). This weekend Granny got to the root of the problem (he knows he doesn't have to "lie" to Granny (and if does - he doesn't want the consequences). Anyhow, he's been getting in trouble for things he ISN'T doing (ok, so some of it he IS doing, but there are some he's NOT). Granny found out what was going on and had a "loud" discussion with his parents and if they don't get the school straightened out she is! I told Caleb from now on if does the "crime" do the time, but if he's INNOCENT - don't TAKE the punishment - tell those idiots (I didn't call them that to him - just to his parents) to "CALL MY DADDY NOW!" But make sure he's right when he does it.

I just can't see the "teacher" always being right when she's NOT. Anyhow we'll see what happens tomorrow when my lovely children meet with the counselor... I WROTE out a list of gripes and they'd best follow the script... That idiot conselor even told him he couldn't wear his "favorite" shirt to school because it was too "big" for him! Not good for her in my opinion!

I think I just got off the subject, but I'm OLD... I do that... :-*

Hugs BD

Must admit I've heard it, used it, and gotten the blank expression from some of my younger employees as well. LOL!  So you inspired an ole boy to look it up:

Posted by ESC on May 11, 2000

In Reply to: Bad penny posted by curious on May 10, 2000

: I heard someone say "like a bad penny" and was wondering what it means. Can anyone help?

"BAD PENNY -- The phrase usually is heard in this country (U.S.) as 'A bad penny always turns up,' meaning that a no-good person can be counted upon to come back again and again. The expression was originally English and the unit of currency referred to was the shilling. Sir Walter Scott, in one of his early nineteenth-century novels, whereto: 'Bring back Darsie? Little doubt of that. The bad shilling is sure enough to come back again.'" From "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).

PS:  Go easy on Lincoln he had a great sense of humor as I recall.  ;D

Dennis - "Your SIX older kids"! (plus 4 others)!

WOW. Well I know what your hobby is........