"five & dime"

Posted by R. Berg on January 03, 2007

In Reply to: "Five & dime" posted by Scottamus on January 03, 2007

: Hi,

: I couldn't find the phrase "five & dime" store in your list.
: My understanding is the term refers to stores adopting a strategy of giving back a nickel and or dime in change to make the customer feel like he is getting extra money in return.

: Also couldn't find "nickel and dime"ing someone.

Greetings, young feller! "Five and dime" is another name for "five- and ten-cent store," a formerly ubiquitous (in the U.S.) kind of variety store with low prices. Inflation has turned the five and dime into the dollar store.

Not every kind of phrase is in the list. "Nickel and diming" might qualify because it's used figuratively. ~rb