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Whiskers on it

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on September 02, 2007

In Reply to: Whiskers on it posted by Smokey Stover on September 01, 2007

: : Have looked up your search,can anyone explain why something that seems ok but is a bad deal is said to have 'whiskers on it'? Are cats a bad deal?

: :I think whiskers here are supposed to be a sign of age--if that's not vetoed by the context. Cats are not a bad deal. Even elderly gentlemen are not a bad deal, unless you are expecting a baby.
: SS


I've never heard that phrase used in the context of bad deals, only old jokes. If someone tells you one, you groan and say "that one's [so old that it's] got whiskers on it". This usage could be extended to apply to anything notoriously old and well-known, so perhaps you heard someone say something like "You fell for the Nigerian scam? How could you be so naive? That's got whiskers on it!"
[if you don't know what the Nigerian scam is, go here: www.snopes.com/ crime/fraud/nigeria.asp]

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