Talk:chump change

= Small Change =

From the description given here and the examples given. Chump change seems to mean exactly the same as small change? Or, has the expression Chump change limited the meaning and context use of small change in American English? Small change does not quite mean the same thing as spare change.

In British English you would say. He spent £300,000 for his new car, but that's small change for a billionaire like him.

or I don't work for small change. I quit!

or a charity might say. Through giving your own small change or by having a collecting box into which others can donate you can help us raise £600000!

or When he started to ask passers-by for small change; I realised he was homeless.

The American phrase chump change has a dismissive connotation that the British phrase small change seems to lack. The dismissive element extends by association toward anyone who would bother to care about such a paltry amount. Chump change would work well for the first two examples above, but not the last two. In the last example, the panhandler would essentially be calling himself a chump (although it might work well on a self-deprecating sign, as in "this chump wants your change"). 98.246.117.187 20:51, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

`I don't work for small change`? No, `I don't work for peanuts`. W∴Bro∴ Froggo Zijgeb M∴ M∴ (talk) 17:29, 16 July 2013 (UTC)