# More money, or more dollars?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-money-or-more-dollars/391766>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 11, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-money-or-more-dollars/391766 "2007-02-11T22:03:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-money-or-more-dollars/391766/1 "2007-02-11T22:03:58Z")

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I frequently hear people say ‘More money than sense’ when they speak of overpriced items. A long time before I heard the phrase, I came up with ‘More _dollars_ than sense’. (Not to say I was the first one to say it of course; just that I came up with the phrase without having heard a similar phrase.) The way I say it, it’s a bit of a pun: _dollars_ vs. ‘cents’. _Money_ and ‘cents’ are the same thing. But a quick google search turns up 9,480 hits on the phrase as I say it, and 113,000 hits on the ‘money’ phrase.

So what is the origin of the phrase, and (google aside) which is the preferred phrasing?

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-money-or-more-dollars/391766/2 "2007-02-11T23:03:49Z")

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I can find “more dollars than sense” in newspapers from 1880, used in the ironic way, although it really doesn’t get popular until about 1895 or so.

“More money than sense” is a phrase/proverb used in English from before the early 1800’s.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-money-or-more-dollars/391766/3 "2007-02-12T04:15:03Z")

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[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.]  
I frequently hear people say ‘More money than sense’ when they speak of overpriced items.  
[/QUOTE]

Almost. [Having] “more money than sense” aplies to the **person** who buys something that is overpriced or useless. Using “dollars” makes a cute pun, but clouds the meaning with confusion over whether the last word is “sense” or “cents”. It really isn’t clever or funny enough (sorry) to be worth the corresponding reduction in clarity.

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**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-money-or-more-dollars/391766/4 "2007-02-12T04:52:40Z")

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[QUOTE=Gary T]  
Almost. [Having] “more money than sense” aplies to the **person** who buys something that is overpriced or useless. Using “dollars” makes a cute pun, but clouds the meaning with confusion over whether the last word is “sense” or “cents”. It really isn’t clever or funny enough (sorry) to be worth the corresponding reduction in clarity.  
[/QUOTE]

What?! It seems perfectly clear, (and clever) to me. Possibly, someone with no sense of irony would find it confusing…