Words and Their Stories: Feel The Pinch
31 March 2012
I'm Susan Clark with the Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
In the nineteen thirties, a song, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?," was very popular in the United States. It was the time of the big Depression. The song had meaning for many people who had lost their jobs.
A dime is a piece of money whose value is one-tenth of a dollar. Today, a dime does not buy much. But it was different in the nineteen thirties. A dime sometimes meant the difference between eating and starving.
The American economy today is much better. Yet, many workers are concerned about losing their jobs as companies re-organize.
Americans have special ways of talking about economic troubles. People in businesses may say they
feel the pinch
. Or they may say they are
up against it
. Or, if things are really bad, they may say they have to
throw in the towel
.
A pinch is painful pressure. To feel the pinch is to suffer painful pressure involving money.
The expression,
feel the pinch
, has been used since the sixteenth century. The famous English writer William Shakespeare wrote something very close to this in his great play "King Lear."
King Lear says he would accept necessity's sharp pinch. He means he would have to do without many of the things he always had.
Much later, the Times of London newspaper used the expression about bad economic times during the eighteen sixties. It said, "so much money having been spent ... All classes felt the pinch."
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