Michael Chugani 褚简宁 - “nickel-and-dime”｜又中又英

In my previous column I explained the meaning of a dime, a 10-cent coin in the US. I also explained several expressions using the word “dime”. There are quite a lot of American expressions that use the word “dime”. Today I will explain a few more. A common one is “a dime a dozen”. It is used to describe something so common or plentiful that it is not worth much. Facemasks were so hard to buy during the global coronavirus pandemic in 2020 that people were willing to pay top dollar (a lot of money) for them. Shops that had facemasks were charging top dollar. Facemasks are now easy to buy and cheaper than in 2020. You can say facemasks are now a dime a dozen.

Another expression is nickel-and-dimed. A nickel, as I explained in my previous column, is an American five-cent coin. The expression “nickel-and-dimed” can be used in several ways. If your bank charges you many different types of small fees that add up to a large amount of money, you are being nickel-and-dimed by your bank. If someone annoys you with many minor criticisms you can say you are being nickel-and-dimed by that person. The expression “nickel-and-dime” can also mean of little importance. If your boss gives you less than a one percent pay raise even though your hard work increased your company’s profits you can say your boss gave you a nickel-and-dime pay raise.

A dime store is a shop that sells things at 10-cents. The US had dime stores decades ago but, of course, there are no more dime stores nowadays. There are dollar stores in the US nowadays. These shops sell many different things at low prices but most things cost more than one dollar. They are similar to the $10 stores in Hong Kong. I sometimes go to the dollar stores in Manhattan to buy things like envelopes. They also sell things like canned food but I never buy them because the use-by date may have expired.
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  在上一篇文章中我解释过dime的意思，就是美国的一角硬币。我也解释了几个用到“dime”一字的习语。其实还有好些美式习语都会用到“dime”，今天我再说明多几个。其中一个常见的是“a dime a dozen”，它是用来形容某事物随处可见，多得不值钱了。二○二○年全球新冠病毒疫情爆发初期，口罩是一个难求，人们愿意花大钱（top dollar）去买口罩。那些卖口罩的商户亦是以高价（top dollar）发售。现在，口罩很易就可买得到，相比二○二○年便宜得多了。你便可以说口罩现在是 a dime a dozen，到处都是，已变得不稀罕了。

另一个习语是 nickel-and-dimed。正如我在上一篇文章中解释过，a nickel就是一个美国的五美分硬币。习语“nickel-and-dimed”可以有几种用法。若你银行向你收取林林总总的小额费用，加起来是一大笔钱，你就是被你的银行nickel-and-dimed——一点一滴地榨取。若某人在许多鸡毛蒜皮的事上挑剔你，令你不胜其烦，你也可以说你被那人nickel-and-dimed。习语“nickel-and-dime”亦可以指微不足道的。若你勤奋工作，替公司增加利润，老板给你加人工的幅度却不足百分之一，你便可以说你老板给了你一个微乎其微、nickel-and-dime的加薪。

A dime store就是全店货物都以一角的价钱发售。美国几十年前有一角商店（dime stores），但今时今日当然再也没有一角店（dime stores）了。美国现在则有 dollar stores，这些商店许多货品都用低廉的价钱发售，但大部分商品价钱都高于一元。它们就跟香港的十元店相似。我在曼哈顿有时也会去那些一元店（dollar stores），买信封一类的物件。他们也卖罐头食物，但我从来未在那儿买过，因为可能都是已经过了食用日期的。中译：七刻
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Michael Chugani 褚简宁