# Money safety pinned to your shirt. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639 "2013-05-06T18:30:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/1 "2013-05-06T18:30:12Z")
Just back from NOLA. I’ve been there before, but this was the first time I noticed people with ones and fives safety pinned to their shirt. A waitress told me that meant it was their birthday. Anyone know about this? Is it a southern thing, or just New Orleans? ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/2 "2013-05-06T18:55:10Z")
Saw it at the shoe factory I worked in in Texas almost 40 years ago. Mostly hispanic workers. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/3 "2013-05-06T18:56:28Z")
My grandmother and mother called it mad money. Girls on dates always wanted carfare home in case they had to ditch an obnoxious date. My grandmother always pinned money to her bra. Money for emergencies. Car breakdowns on the highway, or whatever might go wrong in her life. She didn’t believe in credit cards. Even today I keep 8 twenties hid in my vehicle for emergencies. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/4 "2013-05-06T19:14:40Z")
Oh yeah, on vacation I carry some hundreds under my Dr Scholl’s pads. My wallet and cc’s could be stolen by a pickpocket or mugger. Lots of luck getting the shoes off my feet unless the mugger has a gun. I’m not getting stuck in a strange city penniless and hungry. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/5 "2013-05-06T19:30:29Z")
The OP is talking about money visibly pinned to the outside of one’s shirt, though, which is a poor choice of location for fooling muggers. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/6 "2013-05-06T19:34:59Z")
:smack: I thought the OP saw money clipped underneath a shirt. A bulge or something. carry on then. I was never here. :o ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/7 "2013-05-06T19:50:00Z")
I’ve seen it before a couple times in Illinois. In case it wasn’t clear, the whole point is that other people are supposed to pin money to the birthday boy’s shirt. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/8 "2013-05-06T19:50:10Z")
I’ve seen the practice at weddings before where people pin money to the bride for a dance, sort of like a gift to the couple. Maybe it’s a birthday thing now? Or maybe it was for “Services rendered?” ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/9 "2013-05-06T19:50:44Z")
Would a hyphen help? (IE: “Money safety-pinned to your shirt.”) I’m from Pittsburgh and I first encountered this custom in Galveston, Texas when I worked at the cruise terminal. I told somebody it was my birthday and she whipped a safety pin out of her purse and stuck a $5 bill on my blouse. I had no idea what she was doing but my coworkers pitched in $1’s and $5’s all day and when it was all over I had $20! Pretty sweet. I kind of felt like I was begging but none of the Southerners batted an eye. (I did get lots of odd looks and questions from the passengers, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Sgt.J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sgt.J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sgt.J)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/10 "2013-05-06T20:07:14Z")
I’ve see the same as BurnMeUp. I live in Baton Rouge. It’s a Cajun tradition to “buy” a dance with the bride and/or the groom by pinning money to their clothes. It’s spending money for the honeymoon. ---
**Author:** ![drew870mitchell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drew870mitchell/32/3946_2.png) [@drew870mitchell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drew870mitchell)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/11 "2013-05-06T20:26:25Z")
It’s a birthday thing? A few people (certainly not everyone) did it at my high school in south Arkansas. Since then I haven’t seen or heard of it. Interesting, I didn’t know it was a Southern thing (y’all). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/12 "2013-05-06T20:45:50Z")
My cousin and aunt suggested this as something we do for my niece’s 1st birthday. Everyone pinned dollars to her shirt. I think I recall them saying that it was an African-American tradition but I may be remembering wrong (remembering wrong that they said it - I don’t know if it’s true even if they did said it!) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/13 "2013-05-06T23:04:52Z")
> [@Sgt.J](#): > > I’ve see the same as BurnMeUp. I live in Baton Rouge. It’s a Cajun tradition to “buy” a dance with the bride and/or the groom by pinning money to their clothes. It’s spending money for the honeymoon. That tradition is called a “dollar dance.” I see it here in Chicago and other parts of the Midwest occasionally, too. Never seen it for a birthday, though. ---
**Author:** ![\_3Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b9e5f3/32.png) [@\_3Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_3Bill)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/14 "2013-05-07T05:55:00Z")
I think it’s neat that even nowadays there are such customs that even the viewers of the world’s savviest website don’t know about. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/15 "2013-05-07T09:01:16Z")
I’ve seen it done in Fort Worth, Texas. Mostly I’ve seen it on food servers. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/16 "2013-05-07T11:02:55Z")
It seemed to be a trend amongst Hispanics here in Texas about 10 years ago, but I haven’t seen it in a long time. The idea is to pin cash to the birthday-person’s shirt, and friends add cash to the collection as the day goes on so the person has a huge wad pinned to their shirt by the end of the day. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/17 "2013-05-07T11:08:51Z")
Does the pin go through the note? Doesn’t that damage the money? ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/18 "2013-05-07T11:48:07Z")
I have only heard about pinning money on a birthday boy or girl from a friend who lives in New Orleans. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/19 "2013-05-07T11:51:39Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Does the pin go through the note? Doesn’t that damage the money? Money is tough. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639/20 "2013-05-07T14:35:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Money is tough. Yeah, a little hole or two in a bill isn’t exactly going to destroy it or cause people to reject it. I’ve never even had problems getting people to accept bills ripped in half and taped up in the US. Other countries, though, (and this is a gross generalization) seem to be a bit more finicky about the condition of their bills and what a vendor will accept. In that case, you’d have to go to a bank to trade it in for a fresh bill. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-safety-pinned-to-your-shirt/657639.md?page=2)