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In the days and times that they places coins on the dead man eye were to pay the boat man. or whom ever for this person passages to the neither world. Now to steal these coins were suppose to prevent that person from getting transported to the neither world. Also those times were really hard times for poor people, and when they beg for a few coins from those that could afford it. They told the poor that if you need money that badly why don't you just steal the coins from a dead mans eyes................

2006-08-28 03:26:02 · answer #1 · answered by kilroymaster 7 · 1 0

Coins were used to weigh shut the eyes of a dead person, but the TYPE of coin indicated whether the person was of good social standing or a pauper. Pennies would indicate the corpse of an indigent (someone with no money).

If someone were instructing YOU to take the pennies from your own eyes it would intimate that you're making a bad decision and should realise there are better choices to be had.

If someone were saying that someone else took the pennies from someone's eyes it would indicate that the person was an extremely greedy/miserly theif; only such a person would steal from a dead pauper.

2006-08-28 03:05:36 · answer #2 · answered by lightholder 2 · 1 0

They used to use coins as weights to keep a recently dead persons eyes shut. The phrase is in reference to someone so tight or eager to steal that they would "take the pennies from ones eyes."

2006-08-28 02:58:25 · answer #3 · answered by Rick D 4 · 2 0

Because a person's eyes usually stay open when they die, coins were once used as weights to keep the eyes closed. To take the pennies from the dead one's eyes means some low life who is of such character they would do this and spend them.

2006-08-28 03:33:53 · answer #4 · answered by beez 7 · 0 0

Many cultures used to place pennies on the eyes of the dead to pay to toll to Karon, the boatman who ferried the dead, in order to ensure that came to atone for what they did while they were alive. It is a very old tradition, though it is still practiced in some places. To take the pennies from ones eyes means to steal from the dead. Either literally or figurativly.

2006-08-28 04:18:09 · answer #5 · answered by ~mj~ 3 · 0 0

Wake from the dead, I assume. Sometimes they used to put pennies under the eyelids of dead people to keep their eyes shut.

2006-08-28 02:56:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

It was a custom to place coins on the dead one's eyes to keep them closed. Now they are sutured.

2006-08-28 02:57:30 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

Blinded by money.

2006-08-28 02:55:32 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

It means, He/She is a very clever thief.

2006-08-28 02:59:06 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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