This won't get the old woman her ninepence

Posted by John Donmall-Hicks on January 12, 2010 at 11:16

Does anyone know theorigin of the phrase 'this won't get the old woman her ninepence'? My Classics master (Watford Grammar School) used it regularly when moving us on from some idle conversation back into work mode at school in the late 1950s, but I've never heard it used by anyone else.

• This won't get the old woman her ninepence David FG 12/January/10