Englishnot worth a plugged nickel
Meaning: Worthless.
Example: “His promises aren't worth a plugged nickel.”
Origin: "Plugged" refers to a specific and once-common fraud. A coin's worth originally lay in its metal, so counterfeiters would drill or punch out the valuable center of a genuine coin and fill the hole with a cheap base metal — a plug — then pass the result at face value. The coin looked right, carried authentic markings around the rim, and rang wrong; a plugged coin was worthless precisely because it was a real coin that had been hollowed out. That gives the phrase a sharper edge than a simple statement of low value: what is not worth a plugged nickel is not merely cheap but counterfeit-cheap, worth less than the already-small denomination it is pretending to be.
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Explore another collection: Compliments & Insults
Compliments and insults from around the world, from the sweet to the savage.
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