Come off the money (= get off the dime?)

[James McIntosh]

I disagree:

At 03:24 PM 4/13/02 EDT, you wrote:
>In a message dated 04/13/2002 1:29:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>mam at THEWORLD.COM writes:
>
>> This looks like a "translation" or rewording of "get off the dime",
>>  which I've known since the fifties in the sense of 'bestir oneself from
>>  inactivity to action'.
>>
>>  In the latter, "dime" looks like the same (metaphorical) 'spot, location
>>  of something stationary' as in "stop on a dime". As the physically the
>>  smallest US coin the dime makes sense as a figure of speech for a point,
>>  a location allowing no movement within it-- unlike "turf" or UK "manor",
>>  a location-noun referring to an area.
>
>Just a guess, but could it be that the "dime" in question was the one spent
>to get into a pay toilet and "get off the dime" is a rewording, or maybe
>euphemism, for "get off the pot"?
>
>     Here I sit,
>     broken-hearted
>     paid my dime
>     and only farted
>
>According to an Englishwoman I met in 1982, British pay toilets (or whatever
>they call them) cost a shilling, and "I have to spend a shilling" meant "I
>have to go to the lieu".
>
>       - Jim Landau


I think that "come off the money" is actually a very badly pronounced way of
saying:
"come up with the money".

"come up with" ---> "come u'   'ith" ---> "come off"

James E. McIntosh