One way of saying someone’s a tightwad or cheapskate is to say he “has fishhooks in his pocket,” meaning he’s so reluctant to reach into his pocket for his wallet, it’s as if he’d suffer bodily injury if he did. In Australia, a similar idea is expressed with the phrases “he has scorpions in his pocket” or “he has mousetraps in his pocket.” In Argentina, what’s lurking in a penny-pincher’s pocket is a crocodile. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Fishhooks in Your Pocket”
We talked on an earlier show about dad-isms, those weird old expressions that dads say.
Oh, yeah.
And we heard from Valerie Murray, who lives in North Haven, Connecticut, and she said that her dad has always said he has fish hooks in his pockets.
Do you know what that means?
No.
It’s a reference to a tightwad.
Oh, so it’s hard to get the money out.
Yeah, or you’re afraid to put your hand in because it’s just dangerous.
And when we got this email from her, a light bulb went on in my head because so many times in Argentina, I heard the Spanish equivalent of he has a crocodile in his pocket referring to a tightwad.
And I started researching that, and it turns out that in Australia, what they say to describe somebody who’s really tight with his money is he has scorpions in his pocket or he has mousetraps in his pocket.
So the idea is it’s just too dangerous to stick your hand in there and get out your wallet, right?
Yeah, they’re afraid of it.
He has fish hooks in his pockets.
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