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Originally Posted by marichiko
CycleFrance, maybe you can help me out with this one. I don't see or hear this expression in the States, but when I read something out of the British Isles, I come across the expression "The penny dropped," meaning the person finally got the idea? Where did THAT come from?
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First thoughts are that it could relate to early UK public phone boxes (the old red ones). You'd lift the handset, put a penny in the slot and dial the number. When the phone was answered, you had the choice of pressing button A or button B. Pressing B gave you your money back - so if you got a wrong number you didn't have to pay (so long as the other person gave you a clue that it wasn't the right one), an the person receiving the call had no clue as to who had been callng them.. Pressing button A caused the penny to drop and the person at the other end could then hear who was calling them. The identity mystery was solved, but only when button A was pressed, the penny dropped (you could actually hear it clank into the box below the slot), and the caller could be heard at the other end.