"spend a penny" -- the TLS is at it again.

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/7/2011 12:42 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Precisely.
>
>If it's real and  - and even I have to admit it seems so - and refers to,
>er, Number Two (as it seems to) I can only hark back to my Freudian ref. of
>last week.
>
>Everything you want to know (and, of course, more) is here:
>
>http://www.enotes.com/psychoanalysis-encyclopedia/feces

Does this tell me about pennies?  If so, my search engine missed it.

Seriously, are there any hypotheses -- now, since the 1700s antedate
penny toilets, I assume -- as to the etymology of the expression?

Joel

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