“Another day, another dollar”
“More days, more dollars” is an old sailor’s saying from at least the 1850s. The more days at sea, the more dollars earned by the sailor.
“Another day, another dollar” is a recognition of a tough daily slog; a day at work is “just another day,” and the salary isn’t very good. The saying dates to at least 1907 and was popular with soldiers in World War I (1918). A familiar ending was “Another day, another dollar; a million days, a million dollars” or “Another day, another dollar; a million days, a millionaire”—meaning that it’s another tough day at work without ever accumulating into riches.
A similar phrase is: “A day late and a dollar short.”
Answers.com
Proverbs: Another day, another dollar
Quot. 1897 links the form more days, more dollars to sailors being paid by the day: the longer the voyage the greater the financial reward. Later uses suggest that another day, another dollar occurs as world-weary comment on routine toil to earn a living. It has also generated a quantity of by-forms.
The common saying, ‘More days, more dollars,’ did not give the usual comfort because the stores were running short.
[1897 J. Conrad Nigger of ‘Narcissus’ (1955) v. 114.]
‘‘Nother sleepless night,’ Mr. Baldwin said. ‘Heard the clock strike four again.’ ‘That’s a shame, Mr. Baldwin,’ Mary said. She yawned and stretched, knowing that her landlord was about to say Another Day, Another Dollar.
[1957 D. Erskine & P. Dennis Pink Hotel (1958) 8]
For those opting for Financial Independence it reinforces the awareness that work is no longer about ‘another day, another dollar.’
[1992 J. E. Dominguez & V. Robin Your Money or Your Life v. 157]
Another day, another deadline. And another backdown by Saddam Hussein, for what seems like the zillionth time.
[1993 Time International 18 Jan. 4]
And I haven’t even mentioned‥Bobby Fischer, stripped of his title by Fide in 1975 (another decade, another squabble), but never defeated, and still only 58.
[2002 Times 2 10 Jan. 7]
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The Yale Book of Quotations
Edited by Fred Shapiro
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
2006
Pg. 527 (Modern Proverbs):
“Another day, another dollar.”
L. A. Times, 17 Mar. 1918
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Adventures in Australia in 1852 and 1853
By Henry Berkeley Jones
London: Richard Bentley
1853
Pg. 38:
It is what is called by Jack himself, a sailor’s wind, because their axiom is “more days, more dollars,” especially at the high rate of wages they are now receiving on board of the ship in which this is penned.
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Life on the Ocean:
Being sketches of personal experience in the United States naval service, the American and British merchant marine, and the whaling service
By Charles Nordhoff
Cincinnati, OH: Wilstach, Baldwin & Co.
1874
Pg. 273:
“Never mind, Harry; more days, more dollars, you know,” answered another.
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The Merchant Vessel:
A sailor boy’s voyages to see the world
By Charles Nordhoff
New York, NY: Dodd, Mead & Company
1884
Pg. 211:
The old saying, “More days, more dollars,” is oftener spoken in derision than in earnest, and is only taken as a comforter in the last extremity,
10 April 1907, Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, pg. 4:
Recollections of an Ex-Rube
In Five Chapters - No. 5.
Cartoonist Bushnell writes them and draws them.
GITTIN’ UP TIME.
The harsh wrankle-jangle of an alarm clock on my bureau aroused me to sudden wakefulness. I sat up and stretched and yawned. “Oh, hum! The same old grind. Another day, another dollar. If I could only sleep two more hours.”
3 October 1912, Daily Herald (MS), pg. 5:
ANOTHER DAY
ANOTHER DOLLAR
Governor Wilson’s campaign fund from Harrison county amounts to $14. Jos. W. Havens, who is county tax collector, today contributed his dollar.
16 December 1914, Macon (GA) Weekly Telegraph, pg. 4:
Or as the Neapolitan human steam shovel would say: “Another day another dollar; a million days a millionaire.”
24 January 1915, Dallas (TX) Morning News, part 4, pg. 5:
ANOTHER DAY; ANOTHER DOLLAR.
(...)
“Well, another day.” (...) “Humph! ‘Nother dollar.”
17 March 1918, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Los Angeles Flyer in War’s Thick in Italy,” pg. II13:
“Aside from the happenings, which we can’t mention, things slide along on a pretty even keel and it’s just about a caae of “another day. another dollar.”
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Pat Crowe, aviator; skylark views and letters from France, including the story of “Jacqueline”
By James Richard Crowe and W. B. Chase
New York, NY: N. L. Brown
1919
Pg. 192:
“Another day, another dollar,” as the negroes say.
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History of the Third division, United States army, in the world war, for the period, December 1, 1917, to January 1, 1919
By Frederic Vinton Hemenway
Andernach-on-the-Rhine [Cologne, Printed by M. Dumont Schauberg February 1, 1919
Pg. 53:
Each man awoke on the morning of Memorial Day with the dull thought, “Another day; another dollar.”
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The Bridgemen’s Magazine
By International Association of Bridge, Structural, and Ornamental Iron Workers
v. 19 - 1919
Pg. 300:
(Also—ed.)
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August 1919, The Stone Cutters’ Journal, pg. 3, col. 1:
Many a tired lad has slipped his coat on when the whistle blew and said derisively: “Another day, another dollar. A million days, a millionaire.”
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The A.E.F.:
Who they were, what they did, how they did it
By Willis Rowland Skillman
Philadelphia, PA: G.W. Jacobs
1920
Pg. 173:
FAMILIAR EXPRESSIONS OF THE AEF
It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.
Another day, another dollar; a million days, a million dollars.
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The Uncensored Letters of a Canteen Girl
By Katharine Duncan Morse
New York, NY: Henry Holt & Company
1920
Pg. 44:
“Another day, another dollar,” remarks my friend Mr. Brady with philosophic resignation as he comes in from walking post at night, “Betsy the Toad-sticker,” as he familiarly terms his rifle, over his shoulder.