In my still-unanswered query regarding the origin of the term, "SUV," Wordmatic mentioned the word, "jitney." I had mistakenly thought it to be a borrowing from an Indian word, but have learned that it's American slang for "nickel," the common fare for taxis in earlier times. I'd like to know how five cents came to be known as "jitney."

According to the OED, the origin is "unknown."

From Investopedia:
2. Jitney, or "the jitney game," is basically the same thing as circular trading. The term originated from "Jitney buses," which was a derogatory slang term for Ford buses at the beginning of the century. A reporter coined the term by alluding to the five-cent piece it cost back then for a bus ride. It has since been used to refer to something that is cheaply and poorly made.

While you may praise the love songs of Whitney
And the same kind as sung by Gene Pitney,
They are both long passe
And collectors will say
That their album cuts aren't worth a jitney.

I prefer the sounds Pratt and Whitney
belches loudly - and not from a jitney,
But a B-29,
in fettle quite fine,
Singing four-engined, thunderous litany

Asa the aeroplane afficianado

According to Wikipedia

quote:

The name jitney comes from an archaic, colloquial term for a five-cent piece in the US. The common fare for the service when it first came into use was five cents, so the five-cent cab or jitney cab came to be known for the price charged.

The Online Etymology Dictionary gives a possible etymology.

The most beautiful World War machine
Was the plane that some guys call the Queen.
Many claim their lives owing
To that crate made by Boeing
The ruggedly-built "Seventeen."

Proofreader -- the aviation afficionado who doesn't like to fly.

In England it's called the Dakota
That 'plane with the Curtis Wright motor.
It's the old DC3,
A bird you'll agree,
Gave very much more than its quota.

quote:

Originally posted by arnie:
The Online Etymology Dictionary gives a possible etymology.

Yes, I saw that, arnie, but dictionary.com doesn't buy it. It says for jitney:

• Origin:
  1900–05, Americanism; of obscure orig.; F jeton jetton is a phonetically implausible source

And under jetton:

• Origin:
  1755–65; < F jeton, equiv. to jet(er) to throw, cast up (accounts), reckon (see jet 1 ) + -on n. suffix

For a trip down Memory Lane, see Morgan's post on jitney on August 27, 2002.

It's the "Gooney Bird", that DC-3
Or the C-47, to me.
It flew over the Hump
Where supplies it would dump
So the Allies could force Japs to flee.