Wednesday, November 30, 2005

you have to copper up if you want to get down

Soundtrack: Neil Young - Harvest Moon


Yesterday I went for leaving drinks (not my own), and when I was told it would cost me £17 for half an omelette, three chips and three small glasses of wine, I claimed I'd need to 'copper up'. This caused quite a commotion. Absolutely no one had heard the phrase 'copper up', even the other North Westerner there, although it was thought to be a quaint turn of phrase.

A google search doesn't bring back anything. Even my beloved slang dictionary has let me down. Have I created the term 'copper up'? Have I been mishearing 'cough up' all these years? To 'copper up' is to scrape together all your change to be able to afford to buy something, so it's quite different to cough up.

4 comments:

  1. Here in Dublin there is a manky nightclub called Copper Faced Jacks, otherwise known as Copper Stained Kecks. This is what the phrase "Copper Up" calls to my mind.

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  2. I knew what you meant =)

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  3. Anonymous17:26

    if you put "to copper up" in google you'll find it! :)

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  4. I knew what you meant but I've never heard the phrase before and I've lived in Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol. Ooh, and my wife is American.

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