put a nickel in someone
v. phr.— «It came from the days of the Nickelodeon (very early 20th century) and was retailed to me by my grandmama. People would pop a nickle into the Nickelodeon (player piano) and a frantically energetic and chipper song would play. So, when someone around her (usually me or one of my brothers) was all hopped up on gumdrops or something and talking a mile a minute, she’d say “Who put a nickel in you tonight?!”» —“Good night’s sleep” by Darla Vladschyk in Nova Scotia, Canada Usenet: alt.religion.kibology Nov. 23, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...