If someone offered you a croaker with an old man’s face, would you take it? Here’s a hint: the face belongs to Benjamin Franklin. A Louisiana native shares this rare term for a hundred dollar bill. Grant suspects that it may derive from the French verb croquer, meaning “to be crisp.” It’s mostly used in informal settings, such as horse tracks and neighbor-to-neighbor transactions. What terms do you use for the Benjamins? This is part of a complete episode.
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actually, this term originated with my grandfather while gambling in the back room of his restaurant, the bounty, in new orleans. my grandfather, joe limberg, was gambling with his friends, and one of them pulled out a five dollar bill and said “i’ll bet you a fin” (german word for $5 bill) my grandfather pulled out a one hundred dollar bill and said “i’ll bet you the whole croaker!” (the name of a local fish) the phrase kinda took off after that