# A Bad Penny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704 "2014-10-28T00:33:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704/1 "2014-10-28T00:33:50Z")
What’s the origin of the phrase “bad penny”. It’s used in reference to someone/something coming back into your life, like you keep coming back like a bad penny. Were there ever bad pennies? Wouldn’t think a copper slug could be easily counterfeited…and if so, why would anyone counterfeit a penny? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704/2 "2014-10-28T00:48:15Z")
> **[origin of phrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=156009)** > > I have e-mailed The Master directly with this question, but I thought perhaps the fertile minds of all y’all dopers might know: what is the origin of the phrase “keep turning up like a bad penny”? Thanks! > **[Bad Penny « The Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/2010/03/bad-penny/)** > > It comes around. Dear Word Detective:  Every now and then, I'll come across the phrase "He's like a bad penny, he always turns up."  What was a "bad penny," and what did it mean for them to "turn up"?  Did they curl on the edges? Were they heavier on... ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704/3 "2014-10-28T04:13:52Z")
Thanks, Telemark! That’ll teach me to not search the dope hard enough! Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704/4 "2014-10-28T13:28:45Z")
Just to note that a penny was once worth a fair amount. I recall reading one quote that someone with an income under 800 pence/year was “poor”. So if you had a thruppence a day, you were reasonably well off. So pennies were worth counterfeiting. I have no idea if this is where the phrase comes from. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704/5 "2014-10-28T13:37:43Z")
Since the question has kinda been answered, here’s something to listen to while you read on. [Bad Penny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUXZngk99s) from the late, great Rory Gallagher. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704/6 "2014-10-28T14:15:46Z")
It never occurred to me that it would be anything else but a metaphor for a counterfeit coin that kept coming back even after it had been successfully unloaded onto someone else. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704/7 "2014-10-28T15:35:17Z")
Even in the USA, in my lifetime, a penny (one cent coin) was worth something, I bought a Mickey Mantle rookie card for a penny, and got a piece of bubble gum along with it. Now, it is an interesting challenge to find something that you can buy for a quarter, the largest coin in everyday circulation. Aside from something sold by weight (like a grape in the produce department), I’ve only found one thing you can buy and present a quarter in payment and get change – hypodermic insulin syringes at WalMart are (last time I checked) 21c. They’ll sell you just one. And they even have moving parts! ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704/8 "2014-10-28T16:29:43Z")
When I was a boy at school we had pennies equal to one 240th of a GBP. We also had halfpennies (pronounced hayp’ny) and farthings (half and a quarter of a penny respectively). In the school tuck shop there was a fair selection of halfpenny swets, but only one kind of small sweet at a farthing each. Farthings were very small and had a cute picture of a robin on the face. Coincidentally, a GBP was worth $2.40 that is 240 cents at the time so a British penny was equal to an American Cent ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-penny/702704/9 "2014-10-29T16:22:13Z")
Fairly sure it was a wren, not a robin… They weren’t legal currency by the time I went to school, but the tuck shop (and some confectioners) still had a 4-a-penny tray, together with the ha’penny and penny trays…