Leave the two cents plain

Posted by Baceseras on January 11, 2011 at 18:33

In Reply to: Leave the two cents plain posted by G on January 11, 2011 at 15:18:

: Can anyone tell me the origin of the phrase: "leave the two cents plain"?

[It's from Alan Sherman's parody song, "Seltzer Boy" - the singer is trying to get a glass of seltzer in a restaurant; he finally tells the boy to bring him a Scotch-and-soda: "then you take back the Scotch, boy - and leave the two cents plain." Two cents plain is an old synonym for unflavored seltzer or carbonated water, so called because it was the cheapest item on the menu at a soda fopuntain. The newspaper essayist Harry Golden (fl. mid-20th century) collected some of his best pieces in a 1959 book called _For Two Cents Plain_, punning on the use of two cents both in the drink's name and in the familiar sense of thwe worth of an opinion. - Baceseras.]