a dollar ninety-eight vision

[gamboler]

Conversation (from a US movie, 1944)

Tom: I have a vision. It isn't much, but I like it. It's that red brick apartment house I watched them putting up last year. Six rooms, slick kitchen and... uh and you trying to keep the floors waxed after our son gets through derailing his electric train at every turn. (Pause, he makes a toast) Here's to it!

Dorothy: That's a dollar ninety-eight vision if I've ever heard one, Tom

What's the meaning of this expression (American English I guess).

 

[GoesStation]

It isn't very ambitious.

 

[Tdol]

Is it an expression or just something in this text?

 

[probus]

I've never heard "dollar ninety-eight vision" as an expression. But we have a related expression in AmE. When someone uses inappropriately fancy vocabulary we sometimes call it a "five dollar word."

 

[GoesStation]

Is it an expression or just something in this text?

A dollar ninety-eight was about the price of a meal in a moderate restaurant in 1944. Dorothy was pointing out that Tom's dream was for something inexpensive and not fancy. It was a clever use of words.

 

[Skrej]

Is it an expression or just something in this text?

Typically you'll hear it with a much larger figure - "a million dollar vision". In essence, it means you have dream/plan/vision of a large-scale business venture or accomplishment. Dorthy is being a bit sarcastic with her opinion regarding the scope of Tom's dream. It isn't reaching very far beyond what he presumably already has.

There's a fairly recent motivational book called "When You Have a Million Dollar Vision, Don't Surround Yourself With 1 Cent Minds".

It puts me in mind of expressions such as "That and a quarter will get you a phone call" or similar variants such as "That and fifty cents will get you a cup of coffee" - all used as a response to useless information or underwhelming performance. All of which also probably need serious readjustment for inflation...

 

[GoesStation]

The phone call was a dime in my youth. :-?

 

[probus]

I too remember when payphone calls cost a dime. But people of my parents' generation, when they were tolerating someone blathering on, used to say "It's your nickel."

 

[GoesStation]

Around here, you might hear someone describe something really cheap as costing a buck two ninety-eight. The phrase is a jocular bit of mangled English.