Jennifer in Andrews, South Carolina, is curious about the term case quarter, meaning “a single 25-cent coin — not two dimes and a nickel and not five nickels.” It’s heard mainly in South Carolina, particularly among African-Americans. The origin of case quarter isn’t clear, although it’s been suggested that it derives from French caisse, meaning “cash.” It’s also been suggested that it derives from slang for a British crown, caser, a coin worth five shillings. Caser, in turn, may have come from a Yiddish term, keser, meaning “crown.” Or it could just be that all of the value of that particular amount of money is “encased” in a single coin. Case is applied to other denominations as well, as in case nickel, case dime, and case dollar, each being a single item. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Case Quarter in South Carolina”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hey, this is Jennifer from Andrews, South Carolina.
Andrews. Well, welcome to the show.
I’d like to know if there’s any information about the phrase case quarter. I’ve had a co-worker of mine, she started asking, we have a vending machine at work, and she asked for a case quarter. And I said, well, I got two dimes and a nickel, some type of change. And she said, no, I need a case quarter. And she explained what that was, and I have never heard that in all of my life, and I’m 41. And I thought maybe my friends at OA was groups would have an answer.
So she wanted a case quarter, meaning just one quarter, right? Not change, just that one coin. Just one quarter. No change, no five nickels or anything. She had to have a quarter.
Yeah. Have you ever heard the term case nickel or case dime or case dollar? I have not.
Okay. Well, I’m delighted that you called about this because this is an expression that, you know, I think if we didn’t know you were from South Carolina, we would ask you if you were from South Carolina because this phrase is pretty specific to that state. And nobody’s really sure why a case quarter has that name. But you’re right that it is just the single coin and it is applied to case nickel and case dime and case dollar. And the origin of this term is really a puzzle. There have been several different ideas proposed. The one that I like is the idea that it expresses the idea of all of the value being in that one container, that one coin, that single case. But there are other suggestions that maybe it comes from the French word kes, which means cash, like on casse. On casse means cash in hand.
Grant, there are others as well that we just don’t know. Yeah, there’s one that it might be related to a Yiddish word that means crown, referring to the British crown piece worth five shillings or 25 pence, which is related to the word Caesar or czar. It’s pronounced keser. But that’s all speculation. We don’t have enough evidence to prove any of them. But it’s pretty much concentrated in South Carolina. And you’ll hear it more often in the African-American community.
Exactly. I have several friends that are also co-workers. And they’ve only been African-Americans that’s ever used that. And I’ve picked it up. And several people, I’ve been in line at the grocery store and said, well, I have a case quarter, really just seeing if anybody would recognize the term. And I’ve had people respond and say, oh, I know what that is. I have a case quarter. It’s just interesting. I’ve never heard of that. And I’ve lived in several parts of South Carolina and have only heard it in this area close to Charleston. Never heard it anywhere else.
Well, I bet it’s one of those things where now you’ll hear it everywhere. You know, you see a certain kind of car and then you see it everywhere.
Of course. Well, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Thank you for calling and call us again sometime.
All right.
All right.
Thank you.
Take care, Jennifer.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
