Date: Fri, 21 Jun 1996 13:09:37 -0500 From: Katherine Catmull Subject: Re: To drop a dime on someone On Fri, 21 Jun 1996, Al Futrell wrote: > I like this question. In the materials on criminal argot collected from > criminals I have many instances of the term "drop" being used, but only > one where it means something similar to what I think it means in the > 'drop a dime' collocation: "drop a kite." That's interesting! I've gotten a lot of email about this question, which I also posted to alt.usage.english. From what I can gather, "drop a dime" meaning "to inform" was active in the drug subculture in the late 60s and early 70s, and has been active in some black american speech since the early or mid 80s. The only place I found it on the web, for example, was in the Rap Dictionary. > To drop a dime on somone would mean to give them a ten year > prison sentence (although I have never actually heard anyone say it like > that). I've never heard it in that sense either (though I am familiar-- from TV! -- with "dime" meaning a ten-year sentence). I have often heard the expression "drop a dime on him" meaning "to inform" however. What sort of company do I keep, you may be wondering. > My suspicion is that 'drop a dime' as used in K.C.'s question might > be a Hollywood coinage dating back several decades. Well according to Jesse Sheidlower Random House puts it back to the 60s. I'll be so disappointed if it's a Hollywood coinage, however. > Or perhaps a > Runyonism. But if it was a Runyonism it would be "drop a nickel," wouldn't it? or whatever pittance one owed a pay phone in those days . . . Kate Catmull kate[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]bga.com