Crooked as an eleven dollar bill

Posted by ESC on June 25, 2005

In Reply to: Crooked as an eleven dollar bill posted by David FG on June 25, 2005

: : hello
: : what is the origin of this term /where dose it come from( As crooked as an eleven dollar bill)

: It is one of several sayings used to describe someone or something that is dishonest/suspicious. As there is no such thing as a legal $11 note (bill) it must be a fake. In the UK a similar phrase uses the denomination '9 Bob note' (9 shillings - an obsolete currency unit, but there was never any such note.)

: DFG

We had a discussion a while back about whether the U.S. expression is crooked as (or queer as) a $3 bill or a $2 bill. There are actually $2 bills now. That complicates things.