quotes - Jackson = $$son: pun or topical reference


Alfred Bester's short story The Demolished Man (the original version serialized in Galaxy magazine in 1952, not the novel published in 1963) may have been the first instance of SMS-speak, featuring characters named “T8” (for “Tate”) and “$$son” (for Jackson).


Wait, how is “$$son” short for “Jackson”?


Randall Garrett, who wrote a review in verse using similar shortcuts (such as “Mr. Hassop has gone in2 th@ mor* his hide” — pronounce * as “asterisk”), has this to say:



Also, there’s a character in the original called “$$son.” Now, I could have sworn that was “Dollarson” and I wrote the verse accordingly. But when the book came out, it was spelled “Jackson.”


“Obscure, Alfie,” says I.


“That’s why I changed it,” says he.



(from the introduction to said review in the collection Takeoff!, by Randall Garrett, Donning, 1979.)


Unfortunately Garrett does not reveal the connection. What is it?


(I realize the answer may or may not be on-topic, since it could be a reference to then-current events rather than a pun.)



Answer



See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_terms_for_money:



...the $20 bill [can be referred to] as a "double sawbuck," or a "Jackson"



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