English Language Insights 81: Slang, “a buck or two, a bunch” Definitions, origins.
Michael D. Powers, Ph.D., USCCI
US Certified Court Interpreter 1980 / Ph.D. Spanish Portuguese 1981 / 24 years university professor / Estimates: 12,000+ depositions, hearings, etc. / 850 trials / 3000 documents / Conference Interpreter 650 conferences
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English Language Insights 81: Slang, ?“a buck or two, ?a bunch” Definitions, origins.
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1) a buck or two
Definition
In slang or informal English, “buck” often means one dollar. Of course, in this case it means a dollar or two. However, another common meaning when used informally is a lot of money, megabucks, a whole lot of money. In this sense it is the same as a pretty penny. Why is that penny so pretty? Perhaps because what it represents could be millions of dollars.
Origin
Although different etymologists pose different hypotheses, many tend to believe that the use of “buck” as “dollar” comes from the eighteenth century since deer hides were commonly used as currency to obtain different items. There are references to deer used in this sense back to 1748, 44 years before the first U.S. dollar was minted regarding the use of trading five
“As with many etymologies, the exact root of this word is difficult to say with one hundred percent certainty. However, the leading theory is extremely plausible and backed up by a fair bit of documented evidence. Specifically, it is thought that a dollar is called a “buck” thanks to deer.
One of the earliest references of this was in 1748, about 44 years before the first U.S. dollar was minted, where there is a reference to the exchange rate for a cask of whiskey traded to Native Americans being “5 bucks”, referring to deerskins. Each hide skin varied in the amount it was worth pursuant to its condition.
In another reference from 1748, Conrad Weiser, in Ohio, wrote in his journal that somebody had been robbed the value of 300 “bucks.”
In addition, when the skin was from another animal, the number of skins required to equal a buck varied based on the animal and the quality of the skins. For instance, there is one documented trade where six high quality beaver skins or twelve high quality rabbit pelts each equaled one buck.
This use of skins as a medium of exchange gradually died off over the next century as more and more Europeans moved in and built towns and cities. Once the U.S. dollar was officially introduced after the passing of the Coinage Act of 1792, it quickly became the leading item used as a medium of exchange, but the term “buck” stuck around and by the mid-nineteenth century was being used as a slang term for the dollar.
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2) a bunch
Definition
a group or something is a bunch, like a bunch of grapes or a bunch of people
In addition to referring to many, informally it is sometimes used to refer to a group of people or an association that does things together.
Origin
Etymologically etymonline tells us:
“mid-14c., "a bundle;" late 14c., "protuberance on the body, swelling, knob, lump," probably from Old French dialectal?bonge?"bundle," a nasalized form of Old French?bouge?(2), 15c., from Flemish?bondje?diminutive of?boud?"bundle." The sense of "a cluster, joined collection of things of the same kind" is from mid-15c. The looser meaning "a lot, a group of any kind" is from 1620s.
also from?mid-14c.
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