Date:  Sun, 8 May 1994 21:14:17 -700

From:  Keith Russell <wkr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]US.DYNIX.COM>

Subject: Re: case



On Sun, 8 May 1994, Al Futrell wrote:



> One meaning of "case" that DARE does not include is "last." In relation

> to money, especially the instance of 'case' meaning 'dollar,' "case"

> refers to one's last dollar. Thus, a case dollar is one's last dollar,

> so when someone is down to his case dollar or down to his case or caser

> he is almost broke. "He took my case note" means he took my last dollar.

> This sense of "case" comes from gambling -- and Maurer (Language

> of the Underworld) and Clark (Dictionary of Gambling and Gaming) and

> Wentworth and Flexner (Dictionary of American Slang) and Goldin,

> O'Leary, and Lipsius (Dictionary of American Underworld Lingo) and

> even Farmer and Henley (Slang and its Analogues) include this sense of

> "case" even though it is missing in DARE.

>

> With regard to "case" suggesting unity, as in a case quarter rather

> than 5 nickels, in Kentucky I have often heard people ask for a

> "silver" dime when they want an actual dime and not just 10 cents.

> Assuming that "case" and "silver" are synonyms and noticing that

> DARE's examples of "case" for a coin of a particular denomination

> all come from the South, I am wondering how folks above the

> Mason-Dixon line refer to a particualr denomination of a coin.

> I ask this having grown up in Illinois and not remembering how I

> used to talk!



Easy.... A quarter is a quarter! If I ask for twenty-five cents, I

expect to get any combination of coins adding up to that amount. If I

asked for a quarter and someone gave me five nickels, my response would

be, "No, I need a quarter!"



In my dialect, and that of my friends, "case quarter" would be clearly

redundant.



Keith Russell

wkr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]us.dynix.com