Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels

Meaning of Idiom ‘Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels’

Don’t take any wooden nickels means don’t be cheated or swindled; in other words, don’t be a fool and don’t be easily duped; protect yourself from dishonest people.

Usage

This idiom was not usually used as a specific warning against some impending swindle but was more of a parting phrase, done in a humorous way and to remind someone to be careful.

During the time this idiom was widely used, the Great Depression in the United States, such a warning made perfect sense. There were people waiting around every corner to cheat the unsuspecting.

Sentence Examples

“Have fun with your friends. Don’t take any wooden nickels.”

“Pick up some flour and coffee while you’re in town and don’t take any wooden nickels.”

“Okay, see you later, John. Don’t take any wooden nickels.”

Origin – Were Wooden Nickels Real?

This idiom is about as American as one can get. Yes, there were wooden nickels in the United States, of a sort.

Wooden nickels were once released in the U.S. by banks or merchants as promotional coins. They were ‘collectible’ tokens that could be redeemed for prizes. Some of them had expiration dates making them worthless after a certain period of time.

One of the most famous, and perhaps the first major example of such tokens was during the Great Depression. The Citizens Bank of Tenino, Washington, had failed. This meant the bank had lost their depositor’s money. The Chamber of Commerce of the town quickly made up a bunch of wooden ‘scrip’ stamped out of sheet wood. These scrips or tokens were equivalent to 25% of bank customers’ deposits and could be used to buy items at local stores.

The tradition continued with such tokens, sometimes good for redeeming a free drink or some other small item. It was not uncommon for some unscrupulous dealer to try to pass off a ‘wooden nickel’ as legal currency. So, people learned that you should be careful not to take any wooden nickels.

Amazingly, the idiom seems to predate these tokens so the actual origin is not precisely known. There is an older idiom, don’t take any wooden nutmegs. It is possible that the two are related.