What does it mean, or stand for, when someone says, “I’ll put pennies in your eyes” or “I’ll put pennies in my eyes?”
Thanks
You’re dead.
I’ve never heard that particular expression, but I have read that in “the olden days”, the mortician (or whoever prepared the body for burial/cremation) would place coins over the (closed) eyes of the deceased, in order to keep them closed.
AFAIK placing coins over the eyes isn’t to kep them closed. It’s a variation of the old custom of buring the dead with money to pay/bribe various spririts. The coins have veriously been placed under the tongue, on the eyes or in th ehands of the dead.
I suspected it had to do with death, in some way, as it is in an Alice Cooper song, …and in the movie “The Hitcher”, the hitcher places pennies in the kid’s eyes.
Thanx for the quick responses!!!
“The turk, the arab and the spaniard
Will soon have pennies on their eyes”
Pirates
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
The Alice Cooper song (Steven) mentioned by skin2skin is cooler.
What about George Harrison’s “Tax Man”?
It’s a death thing, like everybody else said. I just wanted to add the movie The Boondock Saints has a pretty interesting example of this. They put the pennies in the eyes of the people they kill and mention it’s “origin”. They say it is a tradition in Greek and Roman mythology to put the pennies there to pay Charon, the boatman that would take the spirits to the Gates of Judgment. I put origin in quotes because I could only find a few other shaky sources so I don’t know if this is 100% true or not, but at least it’s a cool story.
Coins over the eyes, or under the tongue, would, according to legend, be payment for the ferryman who would transport the deceased across the River Styx.
With all those pennies, you’d think he could buy some pants.
It also has some practical significance. After death the eyes can shrink back into the sockets which can give a rather ghoulish appearance at an open-casket funeral. Modern day morticians have little plastic inserts which they place just under the eyelids for that just-sleeping affect.
I think we’re confusing two different customs. Putting a coin (typically a silver coin called an obol) in the mouth to pay Charon was ancient Greek pagan custom. A similar practice was traditionally followed in parts of China.
In 19th century America, after body viewing became customary but before professional undertakers became established, coins were often placed on the eyelids. Their only purpose was to keep the eyes closed so as not to offend the viewers’ sensibilities. A forked stick was sometimes also placed between the chin and breastbone to keep the mouth closed. Modern undertakes now use adhesive to keep the eyes closed and they sew the mouth shut.
I see ticker snuck in while I was looking up the answer. Oh well. By the way, my source is Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies by Kenneth V. Iserson, M.D. (second edition, 2001).
Makes you wonder where he’s put all those coins, doesn’t it?