I've been watching Cheers to improve my English, and there's one phrase I don't quite understand. In season 1, episode 6, Coach tells Diane "I need a 10 in silver, honey" while passing her a $10. I found a copy of the subtitles for the episode here.
My understanding is that he gives her the money in order to get change from Melville's upstairs. However, I don't understand what change she's getting. Does silver imply that she needs to get coins in a specific denomination? For example, if someone were to tell me "I need a 5 in silver", would that mean I would need to give them quarters specifically?
Best Answer
It just means "coins" in general. So $9.55 in silver would include one nickel as well as 38 quarters. I assume the term came from old times where many coins were made of real silver (this would mean pennies are not included as silver since they were not commonly made with silver). It's basically just a term to ask for change in coins.
If the person wants all dimes instead of the least possible number of coins then they would need to specify how they wanted the change. Just like if you say "Can I get change for a twenty-dollar bill?" the person would assume that two ten-dollar bills, one ten-dollar bill and two five-dollar bills, or one ten-dollar bill, one five-dollar bill, and five one-dollar bills would be equally acceptable options. If that person wanted 20 one-dollar bills they would need to specify. So, all quarters would be expected for ten dollars in silver, and if the person wanted something else, they would need to specify.
Since ten dollars is the value of a roll of quarters, it is likely that is what he was asking for.