[ti:Chickenfeed] [ar:Susan Clark] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]go to 51voa.com for more... [00:10.06]I'm Susan Clark [00:12.55]with WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, [00:15.28]a program in Special English [00:17.47]on the Voice of America. [00:19.47]Almost every language [00:22.35]in the world has a saying [00:23.84]that a person [00:25.24]can never be too rich. [00:27.94]Americans, like people [00:30.03]in other countries, [00:31.62]always want more money. [00:33.76]One way they express this [00:36.35]is by protesting that their jobs [00:39.38]do not pay enough. [00:41.17]A common expression is, [00:43.46]"I am working for chickenfeed." [00:46.35]It means working [00:48.14]for very little money. [00:50.08]The expression probably [00:52.67]began because seeds fed [00:55.16]to chickens made people [00:56.95]think of small change. [00:58.79]Small change means metal coins [01:02.52]of not much value, [01:04.12]like nickels which [01:06.51]are worth five cents. [01:08.31]An early use of the word [01:10.84]chickenfeed appeared [01:12.73]in an American publication [01:14.58]in nineteen thirty. [01:16.73]It told about a rich man [01:18.57]and his son. [01:20.06]Word expert Mitford Mathews says [01:23.35]it read, "I'll bet neither [01:25.59]the kid nor his father [01:27.04]ever saw a nickel or a dime. [01:29.92]They would not have been [01:31.81]interested in such chickenfeed." [01:34.16]Chickenfeed also has another [01:37.70]interesting meaning known [01:39.25]to history experts [01:40.50]and World War Two spies and soldiers. [01:44.58]Spy expert Henry S. A. Becket [01:48.12]writes that some German spies [01:50.46]working in London during the war [01:52.99]also worked for the British. [01:55.13]The British government had [01:57.47]to make the Germans [01:58.67]believe their spies were working. [02:01.16]So, British officials gave them [02:04.29]mostly false information. [02:06.63]It was called chickenfeed. [02:09.57]The same person who protests [02:13.15]that he is working [02:14.39]for chickenfeed may also say, [02:17.18]"I am working for peanuts." [02:20.02]She means she is working [02:22.56]for a small amount of money. [02:24.65]It is a very different meaning [02:27.53]from the main one [02:28.78]in the dictionary. [02:29.77]That meaning is small nuts [02:32.77]that grow on a plant. [02:34.56]No one knows for sure [02:37.54]how a word for something [02:39.24]to eat also came to mean [02:41.73]something very small. [02:43.17]But, a peanut [02:45.17]is a very small food. [02:47.36]The expression is an old one. [02:50.79]Word expert Mitford Mathews says [02:54.08]that as early as eighteen fifty-four, [02:56.70]an American publication [02:58.70]used the words peanut agitators. [03:01.94]That meant political troublemakers [03:04.58]who did not have a lot of support. [03:06.57]Another reason for the saying [03:10.35]about working for peanuts [03:11.99]may be linked to elephants. [03:13.94]Think of how elephants are paid [03:17.03]for their work in the circus. [03:19.12]They receive food, not money. [03:22.55]One of the foods they [03:24.74]like best is peanuts. [03:26.68]When you add the word gallery [03:29.97]to the word peanut you have [03:32.85]the name of an area [03:33.90]in an American theater. [03:36.09]A gallery is a high seating area [03:39.57]or balcony above the main floor. [03:43.35]The peanut gallery got its name [03:46.74]because it is the part [03:48.33]of the theater most distant [03:50.37]from where the show takes place. [03:52.67]So, peanut gallery tickets [03:55.56]usually cost less [03:57.30]than other tickets. [03:59.19]People pay a small amount [04:01.63]of money for them. [04:03.22](MUSIC) [04:20.24]This Special English program, [04:23.03]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, [04:25.02]was written by Jeri Watson. [04:27.26]This is Susan Clark.