Case Quarters

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Ed Eubanks from Tucson, Arizona.

How are you doing, Ed?

Hey, Ed.

Doing fine, thanks. How are you guys?

Great, good enough.

Doing well.

What can we help you with?

Well, I’m originally from South Carolina, but my kids have never lived there.

So often we will tell our kids about things that we experienced growing up in the Deep South.

And the other day I was telling my oldest two about a phrase that I heard not infrequently growing up, which is a case quarter.

That is to say, a quarter of a dollar all in one case.

And they were totally mystified by this phrase.

And so I asked on Facebook for my friends who else had heard of it and who knew that phrase.

And one of them was very familiar with it.

He said, you mean like, give me a case quarter because this Coca-Cola machine ain’t taking no dimes.

And I said, yeah, that’s exactly what I mean.

But most of the folks on Facebook had not heard of it either.

And so I wondered, what is the origin of that term?

And why is it not as frequently used?

Or why has it fallen out of use?

Or was it just so reasonable that it never really got much steam?

Well, that’s interesting.

I think you’re onto something in terms of it being regional.

It’s particular to the South and particular to South Carolina.

I mean, you find it all over the South, but there are a lot of references to it coming from South Carolina.

And we don’t know what the etymology is exactly.

There are a couple of different theories about it.

But the one that we think seems most likely is that it’s simply a shortening of the word caser, which is an old British word for crown.

That is a coin worth five shillings.

And it has a crown on it.

But you’re right.

A case quarter is just the single coin.

It’s not two dimes and a nickel.

That’s exactly what I suspected.

And that since nickels and pennies and dimes all have names that are distinct from their value,

but a quarter does not,

then I thought that that was one way of distinguishing what you meant exactly by the particular coin.

Oh, that’s interesting.

You mean a quarter of a dollar.

Exactly.

As opposed to a dime of a dollar.

I see, but you can also have a case dollar and a case nickel, case dime.

People will use those as well.

And often we’ve had callers say, I’m white and the person I was talking with was African-American.

And the African-American understands case quarter and the white person doesn’t.

So, Ed, maybe in your circles, case quarter or case nickel have fallen out of use, but there are plenty of people out there still using it on a daily basis.

And I also want to remark upon the fact that I love the Southern pronunciation of Coca-Cola that you use.

That’s a sure sign of a Southerner right off the bat.

Right, right.

Well, thanks very much for your insight on it, guys.

I appreciate your show and listen to it often.

That’s great.

Thanks for calling, Ed.

Take care now.

Have a good day.

Bye-bye.

And so the other theory is that it comes from a Fritch word meaning…

Cash.

Cash, yeah.

And both of these theories are weak because we don’t have good written evidence.

Yeah.

So etymologists are kind of doing their best guesswork.

Right.

I sure didn’t grow up using it.

Did you?

Yeah, I didn’t either, even though I feel half Southern through my father’s side.

No, it’s unfamiliar to me.

I like it, though.

Give me a case quarter.

Give me a case quarter.

It means giving me exactly a quarter, not two dimes and a nickel.

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