Question of the Day — 10 Feb 2017

What is the origin of the saying, "Winner winner, chicken dinner"?

This was an easy one.

All of our sources essentially agree that the origin of the phrase stems from one of the original loss-leader meal deals: a three-piece chicken dinner with potato and veggie that cost $1.59-$1.99.

Meanwhile, a standard table-game bet in those days was $2.

So when you won your $2 bet, you'd earned the equivalent of the chicken dinner (with a little change thrown in).

Today, to show how things have changed since then, after winning a $50 bet, you might say something like, "I had a hunch and won a Bacchanal Buffet brunch!"


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