Entry from
February 14, 2005
“A nickel a shtickel”
"A nickel a shtickel."
New York delis used to feature these signs. It meant that they were selling the ends of a salami for five cents.
It was a good rhyme and a good business.
New York City Folklore
edited by B. A. Botkin
New York: Random House
1956
[From "The Jewish Delicatessen," by Ruth Glazer, in the book Commentary on the American Scene: Portraits of Jewish Life in America (1953). This was originally published as "From the American Scene" in the magazine Commentary, March 1946, volume 1, number 5.]
Pg. 370: "A Nickel a Shtickel"
Pg. 371: And invariably on the glass-topped counter is a plate with small chunks of salami. In the old days the plate always carried a sign, "A Nickel a Shtickel." (A most convenient - and profitable - way of disposing of the ends of the salami, too.) This immortal rhyme succumbed during the [Second World] war to the free verse of "Have a Nosh - 10c."
15 August 1952, Zanesville (OH) Signal, "Walter Winchell On Broadway" column, pg. 4, col. 4:
Harry's Delicatessen (on 47th off B'way) still features "nickel for a shtickel" - chunks of salamee.
2 April 1972, New York Times, pg. A13:
There was Rosen's Delicatessen in Queens Village, where you got a small hunk of salami for five cents - "a schtickel for a nickel," he called it.
7 July 1982, New York Times, pg. C1:
"MENTALLY, I'm always noshing," said Mayor Koch, explaining the conflict he has between loving to eat and wanting to keep his weight down. "What I mentally nosh on most used to be called 'a nickel a schtickel' - those small end pieces of salami that were sold on top of the counters in New York delis for 5 cents."
4 November 1984, New York Times, "True Confessions of a Deli Addict" by Nora Ephron, pg. 425:
Sometimes I would chew on a miniature salami called a "schtickel" (there was a sign at Linny's that read: "A nickel a schtickel is a rhyme, now a nickel a schtickel is a dime") and press my nose against the glass case as a counterman sliced the Nova on the diagonal and laid it on sheets of waxed paper.
New York delis used to feature these signs. It meant that they were selling the ends of a salami for five cents.
It was a good rhyme and a good business.
New York City Folklore
edited by B. A. Botkin
New York: Random House
1956
[From "The Jewish Delicatessen," by Ruth Glazer, in the book Commentary on the American Scene: Portraits of Jewish Life in America (1953). This was originally published as "From the American Scene" in the magazine Commentary, March 1946, volume 1, number 5.]
Pg. 370: "A Nickel a Shtickel"
Pg. 371: And invariably on the glass-topped counter is a plate with small chunks of salami. In the old days the plate always carried a sign, "A Nickel a Shtickel." (A most convenient - and profitable - way of disposing of the ends of the salami, too.) This immortal rhyme succumbed during the [Second World] war to the free verse of "Have a Nosh - 10c."
15 August 1952, Zanesville (OH) Signal, "Walter Winchell On Broadway" column, pg. 4, col. 4:
Harry's Delicatessen (on 47th off B'way) still features "nickel for a shtickel" - chunks of salamee.
2 April 1972, New York Times, pg. A13:
There was Rosen's Delicatessen in Queens Village, where you got a small hunk of salami for five cents - "a schtickel for a nickel," he called it.
7 July 1982, New York Times, pg. C1:
"MENTALLY, I'm always noshing," said Mayor Koch, explaining the conflict he has between loving to eat and wanting to keep his weight down. "What I mentally nosh on most used to be called 'a nickel a schtickel' - those small end pieces of salami that were sold on top of the counters in New York delis for 5 cents."
4 November 1984, New York Times, "True Confessions of a Deli Addict" by Nora Ephron, pg. 425:
Sometimes I would chew on a miniature salami called a "schtickel" (there was a sign at Linny's that read: "A nickel a schtickel is a rhyme, now a nickel a schtickel is a dime") and press my nose against the glass case as a counterman sliced the Nova on the diagonal and laid it on sheets of waxed paper.