The penny "is no longer necessary to meet the needs of the United States," the Treasury Department said in a news release.

By now, most Americans know the U.S. Mint won't be making any more pennies. Some businesses began reporting shortages of the coins even before the last pennies were stamped.

Another possible repercussion of the penny's passing? Some colorful colloquialisms making use of the word "penny" might not make any cents – I mean sense – in the near future.

These days, phrases and cliches coined about the penny are a dime a dozen: "A penny for your thoughts," "Worth every penny," "Cost a pretty penny," "A penny saved is a penny earned," and "Find a penny pick up and all day long you'll have good luck."

Will these phrases fade away? Could the future be a world in which your thoughts cost a nickel or more? Will another coin emerge as lucky when you pick it up off the ground?

As for the saying, "a penny saved is a penny earned," that phrase has already been made moot, in a way. That's because the U.S. Mint had told the Treasury Department in its annual report that each penny costs 3.69 cents to make. That suggests the government earns money by not saving the penny.

Still, with language, "it's hard to predict what will happen, (as) a lot of language today can have a short half-life," said Philip Duncan, assistant professor in the department of linguistics at the University of Kansas.

An idiom for your thoughts on penny phrases

A phrase such as "worth every penny," is an idiom, defined as a "phrase that behaves like a word,” according to the book, "From the Horse's Mouth: Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms," by John Ayto.

An idiom like "raking someone over the coals," which Ayto mentions is an exaggerated way to say someone was harshly reprimanded, but comes from a medieval form of torture, according to Dictionary.com. And "kick the bucket," which means to die, likely arose from the method of killing pigs three hundred years ago, the site says.

Idioms can "have a lot of staying power and stick around even if an item is not so common," Duncan said. Examples he offers are "have an axe to grind" and "keeping one's nose to the grindstone," both of which exist while thankfully few of us come into contact with actual axes or grindstones.

The last U.S. penny may have been made, but an estimated 300 billion pennies remain in circulation and the penny remains legal tender. So the language around pennies won't immediately die either.

"Words and phrases associated with the iconic penny will stay in circulation for some time to come," Colin McIntosh, who is the chief editor on the Cambridge Dictionary, told USA TODAY.

As the penny lives on, we will continue to "talk about things being 'worth every penny' and 'penny-pinching' accountants, and use 'not a penny' to mean 'no money at all'," McIntosh said. "But these phrases will gradually start to feel old-fashioned as the penny has less and less impact on people’s lives and becomes symbolic rather than real."

The penny has already dropped on some phrases, "thanks to the penny’s loss of value," McIntosh said. "We no longer have 'penny candies,' for example."

Duncan points out some other penny-related idioms have already faded way, such as “think/deem one's penny (good) silver,” which meant someone thought themself or their opinions worthy above others, or “a penny in the forehead/face," used as a reminder that you can't take material possessions with you.

Penny phrases may go way of cash, which is 'cringe' to young Americans

For younger Americans, some penny-related idioms are already meaningless. When Duncan discussed penny idioms with his children and his 8th grade daughter's friends, some weren't familiar with several penny-related sayings including "my two cents," "pinching pennies" and "a penny for your thoughts."

Many viewers of the film adaptations of Stephen King's "It" – the 2017 "It" and 2019's "It Chapter Two" – and the new HBO prequel series "IT: Welcome to Derry," may not know the name of the character Pennywise the clown comes from the archaic saying, “penny-wise and pound-foolish,” Duncan said.

What's uncertain, Duncan says, is whether younger people may just be less familiar with these phrases because they are simply being used less, or if other factors are playing a role, such as younger people using cash less than older folks. He references a Nov. 6 Harris Poll that found more than half (53%) of Gen Z (ages 13 to 28) say they only use physical cash as a last resort, and nearly one-third (29%) describe cash users as “out of touch” or “cringe.”

Meanwhile, many high school kids are getting "broccoli perms," while younger schoolchildren "are still relishing in" the slang memes "6-7" and “41” – both are numbers mentioned in rap songs that became viral phrases, Duncan said.

The numbers have pretty much run their course with most older students and "for many, these are current trends that will likely fade soon," he said. "Can you imagine if these became idioms?"

Gen Z and Gen Alpha like to put their 'two cents' in

There are other signs young people have already mothballed many penny phrases, says Betsy Sneller, an assistant professor of linguistics at Michigan State University. She is the project leader on MI Diaries, an oral history collection program begun during the COVID-19 pandemic that now includes audio diaries from more than 2,000 people, ages 3 to 80-plus, who live in Michigan.

Sneller searched the collection and found that the youngest person who used any penny-related idioms was 36 years old. However, the phrase "my two cents," is on the rise, being used by Gen Z and Gen Alpha (those born from 2010 to 2024).

"I don't really have a prediction as to whether phrases like 'penny-pincher' will end up going away, but that is where I would put my money," Sneller said. "Nowadays people would never say, 'Oh, he's a couple shillings short of a pound,' because 'shilling' is not a thing we use. So it's possible that in 50 years or 100 years, if you call somebody a penny-pincher, they'll be like, 'What are you talking about?'"

In for a penny, in for the long run?

But some penny phrases may stand the test of time, says Matthew Gordon, professor in the department of English at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"The expressions in which 'penny' is used more loosely as a reference to money, like 'worth every penny' or 'cost a pretty penny' seem likely to endure," said Gordon, who is also the director of university's linguistics program. "I mean, I don’t know the last time I actually used pennies to pay for anything or even had them in my pockets, and these phrases don’t seem to have declined in currency in our increasingly cash-less society."

An example of currency that remained in conversation beyond its actual use is the "bit," a monetary unit equal to 12.5 cents. That word remains part of sayings such as “two-bit criminal” and in the cheer “2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar," Gordon said.

Penny idioms could stick around "even when speakers are not aware of what they originally referred to," he said. "Do people think about opening sea passages when they talk about 'breaking the ice'? Every email program has a 'cc' option but when was the last time we held a literal carbon copy of a message?"

The bottom line: we may not know which penny phrases have staying power and which are dropped. "So even if penny idioms have their day of reckoning (another idiom, by the way!), it may be hard to pin down why," Duncan said.

Penny phrases could "continue to be used and have social capital," he said, "even if actual pennies don't."

Contributing: Greta Cross

Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No more pretty pennies. Some phrases won’t make sense without the one-cent coin.

Reporting by Mike Snider, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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