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

[Dennis R. Preston]

Here I sit
All broken-hearted
Paid a dime to shit
And only farted.

Makes good sense to me.

dInIs

>At 9:21 AM -0400 4/16/02, Benjamin Fortson wrote:
>>  > >     Here I sit,
>>>  >     broken-hearted
>>>  >     paid my dime
>>>  >     and only farted
>>
>>Isn't the third line normally "had a shit"?
>
>"tried to shit".  Your version makes no sense in the context, does
>it?  The "tried to shit" version may well (for all I know) be an
>adaptation that serves to retain this immortal verse for a generation
>postdating the demise of pay toilets.
>
>Larry

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736