"Nickel gets you on subway, but garlic gets a seat"

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:22 AM -0700 8/25/04, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>"That and a nickel (dime, quarter, fifty cents, dollar and a
>quarter, two-fifty, you name it) will get you a cup of coffee."
>Apodictic NYC wisdom from before 1950.
>
>JL

I've heard that too as an alternate expression of cynicism, but I
always preferred the subway version, since you always knew exactly
how much the latter would cost you, while cups of coffee could vary
in price.  Also it seemed more specific to New York.

L

>
>Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Laurence Horn
>Subject: Re: "Nickel gets you on subway, but garlic gets a seat"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 11:40 PM -0400 8/24/04, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>>"A NICKEL GETS YOU ON THE SUBWAY, BUT GARLIC GETS YOU A SEAT"
>>
>>GARLIC + SUBWAY + SEAT--4,130 Google hits, 236 Google Groups hits
>>
>>This is given as an old New York saying, but I can't find old
>>evidence of it. It's sometimes given as "a nickel" and sometimes as
>>"three nickels will get you on the subway"--hey, three nickels ain't
>>that old!
>>
>>(GOOGLE)
>>Food and Drink - Ezine Articles
>>... A Second Language... "Three nickels will get you on the subway,
>>but garlic
>>will get you a seat." ~Old New York saying. Low Fat Fallacy ...
>>ezinearticles.com/?cat=Food%20and%20Drink - 9k - Cached - Similar pages
>>
>A related expression is something along the lines of "That and 15
>cents will get you (a seat) on the subway", as a disparagement of the
>value of whatever "that" was. 15 cents was the oldest subway fare I
>personally remember, and hence the form of the expression I recall,
>but I'm pretty sure I've come across "that and five cents will get
>you on the subway" in novels set in earlier days.
>
>larry
>
>
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