Fishhooks in Your Pocket

One way of saying someone’s a tightwad or cheapskate is to say he “has fishhooks in his pocket,” meaning he’s so reluctant to reach into his pocket for his wallet, it’s as if he’d suffer bodily injury if he did. In Australia, a similar idea is expressed with the phrases “he has scorpions in his pocket” or “he has mousetraps in his pocket.” In Argentina, what’s lurking in a penny-pincher’s pocket is a crocodile. This is part of a complete episode.