# Find a penny, Pick it up **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519 "2002-12-29T18:04:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/41 "2002-12-30T13:58:49Z")
I hadn’t heard of the heads rule either. That’s a silly rule. Does anyone else distribute good luck? When I have pennies, I often like to leave them in conspicuous areas for someone to come along and find. It only costs me one cent and someone else gets good luck - how cool is that? ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/42 "2002-12-30T18:04:17Z")
Find a penny Pick it up Find 99 more You’ll have a buck I never heard any rhymes for pennies _or_ pins, but I have heard people say that picking up a penny (heads up) is good luck. Of course, I also heard some of the same people say that stepping in dog shit is good luck, so there you go. ---
**Author:** ![Smashed\_Ice\_Cream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Smashed\_Ice\_Cream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smashed_Ice_Cream)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/43 "2002-12-30T18:21:02Z")
I’m another one in the **pin** camp. And I always just figured the luck part ran out soon after, being wasted on having the good luck to see the pin and pick it up before stepping on it and jabbing it through your big toe and bleeding all over your new socks. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/44 "2002-12-30T18:39:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mauvaise \* > I also won’t…pick up scissors after I’ve dropped them. So won’t your home soon be carpeted with fallen scissors? Seems to me that would be kind of dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/45 "2002-12-30T19:24:26Z")
Ike’s correct. But only because he’s old. Like me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/46 "2002-12-30T21:03:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\*You’re all crazy. I don’t know why I bother with you. The rhyme involves PINS, not pennies. \*\* :: mumbling:: Goddamn Cafe Society moderators think they know everything … grumble grumble … ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/47 "2002-12-30T21:25:01Z")
I figure any rhyme my dad could actually be bothered to sing to me when I was a kid must be right-- and he never mentioned pins, or heads, or tails. Just cold hard cash in small denominations. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/48 "2002-12-30T22:29:48Z")
Where does this luck come from? Is it created from the discovery of the penny? Or is there some kind of conservation-of-luck law, and someone (likely the person who lost the penny) loses a day’s worth at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/49 "2002-12-30T23:37:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eutychus \* > \*\*:: mumbling:: Goddamn Cafe Society moderators think they know everything … grumble grumble … \*\* Urmmmmm, ya do know about Ike’s Voodoo Priest prowess, right? A Pinny found is a Pinny earned… ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/50 "2002-12-31T00:23:53Z")
I always thought it was this: Find a penny Pick it up And all day you’ll have A shiny useless circle of metal Until you dump it in the dish On the table Next to the garage door. Have I really been missing out on gobs and gobs of easy luck? ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/51 "2002-12-31T01:08:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \* > So won’t your home soon be carpeted with fallen scissors? Seems to me that would be kind of dangerous. Nah, you just have to get someone else to pick them up. It’s not bad luck for them, only for the person who dropped them. ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/52 "2002-12-31T01:11:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skelji \* > Of course, I also heard some of the same people say that stepping in dog shit is good luck, so there you go. I hadn’t heard that one, but I had heard it was good luck if a bird shits on you. :: shrug :: I still try to avoid either one. ---
**Author:** ![bristlesage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@bristlesage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bristlesage)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/53 "2002-12-31T01:16:48Z")
The only other version of this rhyme I know that no one has mentioned is: Find a penny/pick it up;/all day long,/you’ll have good luck. Give that penny/to a friend/and your luck/will never end. Nothing about heads and tails, though. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/54 "2002-12-31T01:41:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hastur \* > \*\*I think Cecil needs to devote a few columns to this. > > 😃 \*\* Like [this one](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_334.html)? ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/55 "2002-12-31T02:11:49Z")
My mother (of NW PA descent) always told me _See a penny, pick it up all the day you’ll have good luck. See a penny, let it lay, you’ll have bad luck all the day."_ This left me with an irresistable compulsion to always pick up any goddam penny I saw. I was bitching about this to a co-worker one day, and he took this as an opportunity to drop a penny or two around my desk every time he saw me leave. It took me about a day to figure out what he was doing. When I finally did, I waited until he left his desk and threw about 15 pennies on the floor around his desk. We gleefully escalated this for a few days until the boss finally said "What the hell are all these friggin’ _pennies_ doing on the floor?!?! Good times… ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/56 "2002-12-31T02:46:46Z")
Well, I always heard that a face-up penny means ol’ Abe is giving you “the evil eye” and you should leave it alone. Quasi ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/57 "2002-12-31T03:19:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Find a penny > Leave it lay > You’ll have bad luck > All the day Well, I _obviously_ can’t just leave a penny there if I see one on the ground. > [@](#): > > But then I’m about to do it the other day since I need all the luck I can get when my daughter says “Better look at it first. If it’s tails, you’ll have bad luck.” But…but…[[whiney voice]what if it’s on tails? I can’t pick it up or I’ll get bad luck. But…if I leave it on the ground, I’ll get bad luck! What…what can I do?[/whiney voice] Can I maybe flip it over, _then_ can I pick it up without risking bad luck? And who came up with that whole heads=good luck, tails=bad luck thing, anyway? I personally like the bird better than some old dead president…oh wait…so _that’s_ why I have bad luck! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519/58 "2002-12-31T12:37:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mauvaise \* > Nah, you just have to get someone else to pick them up. It’s not bad luck for them, only for the person who dropped them. Oh, _sure_. “Yeah, yeah, _you_ pick them up–it’s not bad luck for you, honest! Um, listen, about that plane trip we’re taking together next week–do you mind if I take a separate flight?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-a-penny-pick-it-up/145519.md?page=2)