# "Nice try, but no cigar!" -- Origin of this phrase?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 6, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749 "2007-07-06T16:10:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/1 "2007-07-06T16:10:15Z")
What is the origin of the phrase “Nice try, but no cigar!”?
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/2 "2007-07-06T16:12:01Z")
I believe the term is “Close, but no cigar.” Here’s my theory: In carney games you would perform an act of skill, such as tossing a ring over a milk bottle. If you almost make it, but not quite, you don’t get the prize, which often was a cigar.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/3 "2007-07-06T16:19:45Z")
[Maybe, maybe not.](http://ask.yahoo.com/20060306.html)
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/4 "2007-07-06T19:08:41Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#):
>
> In carney games you would perform an act of skill, such as tossing a ring over a milk bottle. If you almost make it, but not quite, you don’t get the prize, which often was a cigar.
This practice is probably also the source of the saying that someone who successfully guesses an answer or performs a task is entitled to “a choice of cigar or coconut”. Why they handed out coconuts as carnival prizes I could not say.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/5 "2007-07-06T19:16:05Z")
[QUOTE=Kimstu]
This practice is probably also the source of the saying that someone who successfully guesses an answer or performs a task is entitled to “a choice of cigar or coconut”. Why they handed out coconuts as carnival prizes I could not say.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve only seen that in stories by P.G. Wodehouse.
I suppose coconuts were regarded as an exotic treat at the time of those stories. Besides, they had to have something for people who didn’t smoke.
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### Author:  [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/6 "2007-07-06T19:23:31Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]
[Maybe, maybe not.](http://ask.yahoo.com/20060306.html)
[/QUOTE]
I agree that the one which makes the most sense is the sledgehammer game, in part because it is common for the weight to get very nearly to the top but not quite ring the bell and win the prize.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/7 "2007-07-06T19:27:26Z")
And I always thought it referred to a pregnancy scare 😃
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/8 "2007-07-07T18:07:22Z")
My late father, born in the early 20th century, is another vote for the hammer-and-bell game. The barker would tempt a wiry little guy, and the barker would stand on a pedal to tighten the wire. With the tight wire, the little guy (who was sometimes a shill,) hit the bell, and he strutted away with a cigar. Then a big guy would waste a lot of money trying to ring the bell, all the time drawing the barker’s taunts (Close, pal, but no see-gar! Is that all you got, bub?), and the crowd’s mocking laughter. Finally, he got the pedal and the cigar.
After a couple more macho guys shelled out, and the crowd thinned, the cycle started again. There’s no shortage of suckers. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/9 "2007-07-07T23:36:45Z")
[The Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/052598.html#nocigar) says:
> [@](#):
>
> … sideshow pitchmen, not storekeepers, coined the phrase. Cigars were apparently popular carnival prizes in all sorts of games of chance before the invention of purple plush stuffed animals.
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### Author:  [@SleepyDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleepyDuck)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/10 "2007-07-08T04:34:21Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
And I always thought it referred to a pregnancy scare 😃
[/QUOTE]
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar \
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2007, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/11 "2007-07-08T09:30:08Z")
[QUOTE=Kimstu]
This practice is probably also the source of the saying that someone who successfully guesses an answer or performs a task is entitled to “a choice of cigar or coconut”. Why they handed out coconuts as carnival prizes I could not say.
[/QUOTE]
In England, any fair or fete worth the name will have a [coconut shy,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_shy) so coconuts would be something they had a supply of on hand.
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### Author:  [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/12 "2007-07-08T11:19:36Z")
just quick “I was wondering this too, just the other day”
…and a check to see my member status also.
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### Author:  [@justqwerty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justqwerty)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2007, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/13 "2007-07-08T11:49:35Z")
so it’s not a reference to Monica Lewinsky then ? :smack:
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### Author:  [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/14 "2007-07-09T01:59:38Z")
I’ll take “Linda Tripp’s Phonecall Outtakes” for $500, Alex.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-try-but-no-cigar-origin-of-this-phrase/410749/15 "2007-07-09T12:15:06Z")
In Spain we say “¡no hay premio!” (no prize) when someone drops something fragile but it doesn’t break; “¡premio!” (prize) when it does break, with occasional comentary about how big the prize is, ladies and gentlemen, the gorgeous lady here has won a large, large, laaaaaarge Papa Smurf that will keep her company when the husband isn’t home and who said women can’t shoot, laaaaaa-dies and gentle-men! It comes from the shooting games in carnivals.
When I first encountered “close but no cigar” I figured it was something similar…