Volume XXXIV

I. Dropping Dimes 💿

Before it hit the hardwood, “dropping a dime” lived in crime slang. In the early to mid-1900s, payphones cost a dime — so if you called the cops on someone, you literally dropped a dime snitching on them.

By the 1980s, Sports Illustrated writers flipped it, using it for players setting up teammates to score rather than setting someone up to be caught. “Magic was dropping dimes all over the floor last night” first captured the new imagery.

Now it’s evolved well beyond hoops — football, hockey, even ultimate frisbee. Who would’ve thought a ten-cent call would turn into a million-dollar highlight?

II. Play It by Ear 🎶

Before every song had sheet music or Spotify tabs, musicians had to trust their instincts. They’d hear a tune once, then jump in, hoping their ears caught the right notes.

These days, it’s the ultimate get-out-of-planning card.

When a meeting starts spinning its wheels or your significant other’s plans sound like a trap, a well-timed “let’s play it by ear” buys you breathing room.

III. Hands Down 🏇

This one comes straight from 19th-century horse racing.

When a jockey was winning so easily he didn’t even need to push his horse, he could loosen the reins and lower his hands while crossing the finish line — literally winning “hands down.”

By the late 1800s, the phrase trotted out of the racetrack and into everyday language, now representing anyone or anything that’s comfortably the best — like T. Swift at the Grammys, Messi on the pitch, or your local bodega’s bacon, egg, and cheese.

Keep on sending on. Forward to a friend.