"spend a penny"

[Gerald Cohen]

   This usual British expression (but unusual American one) once led
to the following humorous situation, which I read in a newspaper a
few years ago (Wall Street Journal?):  An American giving a business
seminar in England to a British audience said in the middle of his
talk that "You have to spend a penny to make a penny" and was
surprised when the audience laughed at this advice.

Gerald Cohen


At 2:59 PM -0700 5/13/02, Ruth Barton wrote:
>Hereabouts pay toilets must have cost one cent at one time because "spend a
>penny" is the term used for having to use the latrine.  Ruth in Vermont,
>USA.