this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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One thing that has always troubled me about that episode, ever since I went on a watch through several years ago, was he said the phrase "the buffalo is off the nickel", and in context, I'm assuming that it meant something along the lines of believing something that isn't true, but since we don't use buffalo nickels anymore, that phrase has exited common parlance, and it threw me for a loop to hear old slang.
Could it mean "this changes everything!"?
As in, a fancy way of saying we've truly entered a new age? I'm trying to think of a modern equivalent but am drawing a blank.
I think it's like saying "there's no guard rails now" because you are not in safe and regulated society where all the wild animals you see are on your coins, but you are now outside of that safe comfortable world and the wild animals are actually wild animals.
It reminds me of the saying "when you hear hooves, expect horses, not zebras" because you'd really be somewhere exotic if the sounds turned out to be a zebra. Well you'd really be somewhere outside of your regular comfort zone if the buffalos were sitting in the grass instead of sitting on your nickle.
I was surprised to find there a zebra ranch in my area and the only reason I know this is because I happened to see all the zebras in the pens when driving through the country for work. I live in California.
Trying to find the origin and meaning of that. This talks about a bull, not a buffalo, and oddly references a twilight zone episode, though I think this is a different episode than what we are talking about.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The+bull+is+off+the+nickel
This mentions a buffalo, but it’s a different expression.
https://barrypopik.com/blog/he_squeezes_a_nickel_so_tight_the_indian_cries