On a shoestring

Posted by ESC on January 20, 2001

In Reply to: Shoestring budget posted by Hoku Lea on January 20, 2001

: Anyone know the origin of "shoestring budget"? I understand it was coined during the depression era?

SHOESTRING "The expression may have come from faro (a gambling game), but it isn't recorded until 1904, although 'shoestring gambler,' for a 'petty, tinhorn gambler,' is recorded 10 years or so earlier. 'On a shoestring' suggests that one's resources are limited to the laces of one's shoe." From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).