What does "a nickel on the dime" mean?
In The Greatest Showman there's a song set in a bar where PT and Philip are negotiating whether or not Philip will join the show, and there is a lyric I don't understand.
First they're singing about percentages "I wasn't born this morning, eighteen will be just fine" and then they say something about the nickel in a dime?
I'm not American but I know that a dime is a coin? Is there a certain amount of nickel in it? What does this line mean?
Best Answer
The line is
I wasn't born this morning, eighteen would be just fine.
Why not just go ahead and ask for nickels on the dime?
Both "nickels" and "dimes" are common names for coins in the US, 5 cent coins and 10 cent coins respectively.
It probably scans better for the writer than 50 cents on the dollar.
The expression means paying or receiving less than full value...similar to "pennies on the dollar"
Essentially "nickels on the dime" means "why not ask for half"!
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What is the meaning of the idiom nickel and dime?
1 : to impair, weaken, or defeat piecemeal (as through a series of small incursions or excessive attention to minor details) 2 : to treat (a person or situation) by paying excessive attention to small amounts of money often with a detrimental effect.What does it mean to call someone a nickel?
Nickel is a slang term for \u201cfive\u201d of anything, especially a small bag of drugs costing five dollars or five-year prison sentence.What is the meaning of on a dime?
In a very small space, suddenly, as in That horse is so well trained it can turn on a dime. This expression alludes to the fact that the dime is the smallest-size U.S. coin. [ Early 1900s]Where did the phrase nickel and dime come from?
First used in the late 1800s to mean a small amount of money, nickle-and-dime took on its adjective and verbal definitions in the early 1900s. Note that the Oxford English Dictionary lists that the proper spelling contains two hyphens.m11-quiz3-8
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Answer 2
Just to add to the accepted answer, nickels on the dime is a common expression in parts of North America (I have heard it used in Ontario and BC), indicating that you are getting ripped off in a deal.
For example: "I got a loan, but the bank is taking nickels on the dime"
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