I recently heard, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner" for the first time. It’s said when someone wins something.
We were curious to learn more, so we asked on the Mama Lisa’s Facebook Group the question, "Do you ever say, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner"? If so, when do you say it?" Here are the responses…
Pippa N.: Dinner time usually for the last piece of food.
Sandra D.: When 1) someone wins something, 2) an activity is awesome, and my students enjoyed it, saying "this is a winner" or whatever might bring someone to say any variant of the word "win".
Glenda B.: I remember saying it when I was younger, it was said when you won something. We have a lot of slang words in Australia.
Dave B.: I’ve never said that
Rebecca N: Yep my husband says it all the time. I never did but he grew up with it.
According to "The Internet", the expression comes from Las Vegas Casinos in the 1970’s. At the time, the most common bet was $2. A chicken dinner could be had for just under $2. So if someone won $2 at one of the tables, they could buy a chicken dinner with it. The dealer would call out "Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!" to attract more people to her winning table.
Have you ever heard or used this expression? Please let us know about it in the comments below.
-Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2017 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Australia, Countries & Cultures, England, English, Expressions, Languages, Questions, Readers Questions, USA, Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!, Words & Phrases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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