"nickel and dime"

English translation: those which drain your pocketbook, nickel by nickel, dime by dime

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	"nickel and dime"
Selected answer:	those which drain your pocketbook, nickel by nickel, dime by dime
Entered by:	Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D.

08:22 Aug 24, 2004

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Linguistics

English term or phrase: "nickel and dime"

Items on the checklist include both mechanical and cosmetic items, and they vary from the very expensive repairs to the minor ones that can "nickel and dime" you.

Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D. KudoZ activity Questions: 8 (none open) Answers: 735 Bangladesh
Local time: 14:16

nickel and dime

Explanation:
"to nickel and dime"-- to empty your pocketbook, nickel by nickel, dime by dime. The recent bestselling book by Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America, describes how minimum wage workers in America are getting "nickeled and dimed" (verb).
Thus, something that nickels and dimes you makes you think that you are not really spending all that much, but eventually the costs add up.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 mins (2004-08-24 08:39:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

oops! I didn\'t see where to put my suggestion.
Suggestion=
those which drain your pocketbook, nickel by nickel, dime by dime

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs 7 mins (2004-08-24 17:30:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here is a funny-- and somewhat sad!-- web page describing how it\'s the smalltime slot machines in Vegas that get ya... once again, nickel by nickel, dime by dime. http://neptune.spacebears.com/opine/slots.html

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 hrs 43 mins (2004-08-24 19:05:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

To follow the title of Ehrenreich\'s book, I would go with \"nickel and dimed,\" although I agree with David that any of ggrozoma\'s suggestions work.

Selected response from:

Tegan Raleigh
United States

Grading comment

Thank you all for your nice explanations.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +12

nickel and dime

Tegan Raleigh

those involving only a small amount of money

Michael Powers (PhD)

1 +3

small repairs that can add up to a considerable expense

Jonathan MacKerron

A matter of addition

Roddy Stegemann

Answers

3 mins confidence:

those involving only a small amount of money

Explanation:
Mike :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 mins (2004-08-24 08:26:45 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Merriam-Webster Dictionary 11th edition

adjective

Main Entry:1nick£el*and*dime
Pronunciation:*ni-k*l-*n-*d*m
Function:adjective
Date:1941

1 : involving or offering only a small amount of money
2 : SMALL-TIME

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2004-08-24 08:29:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Although nickel-and-dime\" as a transitive verb can mean \"impair, weaken\" or \"pay excessive attention to small amounts of money with a detrimental effect,\" here it is in counterposition with \"very expensive repairs\" making the idea of \"small amounts of money\" more appropriate.

Mike :)

Michael Powers (PhD)
United States
Local time: 04:16
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 136

58 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

small repairs that can add up to a considerable expense

Explanation:
?

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

12 mins confidence:

"nickel and dime" (verb) A matter of addition

Explanation:
I believe the meaning is that many small things when added up can represent a substantial portion of the entire bill or expenditure.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs 58 mins (2004-08-24 13:20:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Although I do not disagree with Tegan and James, being nickeled and dimed, does not have to be an \"invisible\" process. Rather, it is having to pay at every turn for even the smallest of things, and the persistent incremental increases to which one is regularly subjected that are nerve racking and give rise to the expression. Many small payments make the total of those payments appear even larger than it is.

One of the reasons that people like to shop in supermarkets and large department stores is because they can make all of their purchases at once. Inflation is disliked, because every time you turn around the price of something has just gone up. Without price stability it is difficult to compare different products for their true market worth. Consider a nagging mate that makes incessant demands. Next to the ongoing hectare by hectare expropriation of land by the Israelis in Palestine, the biggest complaint on the part of Palestinians is the ongoing stress brought about by the occupation. The incessant checks makes daily living in Palestine unbearable and the Israelis hated. The suicide bombing are a direct result of that incessant build-up.

I could provide you with many more non-market and market examples that capture the market notion of being nickeled and dimed, but surely you have gotten the gist by now. Being nickeled and dimed does not have to be subtle, nor does it have to be a sudden discovery of something that has been occurring all along.

Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 01:16
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 20

15 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +12

nickel and dime

Tegan Raleigh
United States
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

Thank you all for your nice explanations.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

J. Leo (X): It's all in your last sentence before the note. Also "Nickel and dime (someone to death)" for the continuous 'takers'; used for e.g. user's fee, sales tax. I beleive it comes from the old 'Nickel and Dime' stores: Woolworth's (US), among others.

18 mins

agree

ohemulen

35 mins

agree

ggrozoma: Is the past tense "nickel and dimed", "nickeled and dimed" or "nickel-and-dimed"? :-)

1 hr

agree

IrinaGM

1 hr

agree

David Knowles: To ggrozoma: past tense any of those! I like the hyphen version best, but Americans aren't keen on hyphens!

2 hrs

agree

NancyLynn

3 hrs

agree

Richard Benham

3 hrs

agree

Java Cafe

6 hrs

agree

Tehani

10 hrs

agree

Refugio: Yes, it comes from the old "five and ten cent stores" like Woolworth's, the expression being "they are cheap stores but they can nickel-and-dime you to death." Since it is properly hyphenated, the past tense would be "nickel-and-dimed".

22 hrs

agree

Laurel Porter (X): Oops, didn't see that your answer came before Jonathan's... Exactly right.

22 hrs

agree

eccotraduttrice

22 hrs

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:

ProZ.com term search

Search millions of term translations

"nickel and dime"

English translation: those which drain your pocketbook, nickel by nickel, dime by dime

Answers

KudoZ™ translation help

Your current localization setting

Select a language

"nickel and dime"

English translation: those which drain your pocketbook, nickel by nickel, dime by dime

Answers

KudoZ™ translation help

You have native languages that can be verified

Your current localization setting

Select a language