A Croc in Your Pocket

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. Years ago, while traveling in Argentina, I heard a great phrase to describe somebody who’s very stingy. You know, that guy who never picks up the check in a restaurant, never gives money to charitable causes. In Argentina, that kind of person is said to have a crocodile in the pocket, un cocodrilo en el bolsillo. A crocodile in the pocket. That means he’s not about to reach for his wallet because there’s this scary sharp-toothed animal there in his pocket that’ll snap his hand off. And I thought that was a really cool, colorful phrase.

And I was reminded of this the other day because I just learned that in France, a stingy person doesn’t have a crocodile in his pocket. Instead, he has ursins. He has sea urchins in his pockets. And you’re not going to want to reach in there because, ow. And so I started digging around and it turns out that in various countries, there are various dangerous animals in the pockets of stingy people. In Brazil, sometimes you would say that there was a scorpion in somebody’s pocket or in Serbia, it’s a snake. All preventing you from getting in there and take out your money.

Yeah, yeah.

Don’t blame me.

My father, who passed on a couple years ago, was very careful with money, let’s say. And I always used to say that he was so tight with money that he squeezed a nickel till Jefferson screamed.

Oh, that’s the polite version.

Well, we know that there are people in your life that you love, but there’s something about them that just deserves a colorful phrase. Share them with us.

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