Date:  Fri, 9 Jan 1998 10:34:56 -0500
From:  Gregory {Greg} Downing <downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU>
Subject: Re: change of a ten

At 07:53 AM 1/9/98 EST, you wrote:
>Is anyone familiar with "change of a X"
>e.g. "Excuse me. Do you have change of a ten"
>
>as opposed to
>"change for a X" (Do you have change for a ten)
>
>thanks,
>
>beth simon
>

I've heard it fairly often in NYC, where "change for/of a dollar" came up
commonly on buses throughout the 70s, 80s and early-to-mid 90s due to the
requirement to pay the fare in exact change using coins only (one doesn't
hear it so much now that people have started to pay the fare with a
dip-card). I always imagined the "for"-construction emphasized the exchange
aspect of making change, and the "of"-construction stated a more vague
relationship between a ten and whatever you could (ex)change it for.

Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu