What is the meaning of "paying in buttons"?

Question

From Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage by Rachel E. Gross:

As a child, Miriam dreamed of becoming a doctor like her father, Dr. Friedman, who had practiced medicine in Chedrin, Latvia. 'A real country doctor', as she called him, his patients came in horse and buggy and paid him in buttons.

I reckon it means "very little" in this context, but I've found on the Internet other instances where there's an opposition between "buttons" and "cash". For example:

But she'll have to pay in buttons instead of cash because she's a little strapped right now?

(from When in Doubt, Add Butter by Beth Harbison)

which makes me think that there was a token of sorts that people used for payment in lieu of cash.

I can't find a definitive answer and would appreciate your insight.

Answer 1

Being / get paid in buttons. It's probably not common enough to be classed as an idiom, but it's one of the most transparent metaphors imaginable. Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, AHD and R H K Webster's don't list the expression, though Collins and Lexico come close:

button 1.3 Used in reference to things of little worth.

• He will never give away anything that is worth a button.

The more common synonym is get paid in peanuts / pay someone peanuts: pay / be paid far less than is seen to be reasonable.

Here are a few typical examples from the internet:

• Social Services – immoral, illegal or just plain useless? [31 Aug 2012] — I never came across one member of SS staff that I would have paid in buttons. For us, they made a difficult job almost impossible.

[Alzheimer's Society_Discussion Forum]

• The strange thing is that in games such as professional rugby and soccer, referees are paid in buttons compared with the people who play the game. In Gaelic games, referees get little more than abuse.

[Sean Kilfeather; The Irish Times; 1997]

And a twist on the straightforward rendering:

• D'Avenza is the one place you could be paid in buttons – wild Indian buffalo horn buttons – and be happy about it. They cost a fortune.

[Buttons Online; 2017]

Answer 2

It means paying in actual buttons, but facetious because they would not be enough to pay a doctor's bill.

Small amounts of currency in the UK used to be acceptable as buttons or pins. There is an expression in the language which derived from the use of pins. Farlex has

for two pins

At the slightest provocation; for the smallest reason. Primarily heard in UK.

I know this practice existed but can't find any reference to it.

Answer 3

Poor rural people are often cash strapped even today in places like the US and England, it was much worse in the past.

So, it’s common to hear tales of professionals (particularly Doctors) being paid in barterable goods such as sugar, cows, wheat, corn, apples, pigs, sheep or in this case buttons.

Answer 4

It's a way of expressing something of little worth, and I don't feel that either of the examples quoted by Noelia sits comfortably with British usage as I know it. Are the sources from elsewhere? My late father - a lifelong engineer - would say of people whose work he didn't rate highly "I wouldn't pay him in washers", which are another coinlike object of little value.

At the risk of going a little off track, I can confirm, again from my father, that a small packet of pins was often given by haberdashers in place of a farthing's change. A lady he knew saved up the packets and insisted on paying for something with them, much to the shopkeeper's annoyance. Before the advent of mass-production, pins were hand-made and quite expensive, which led to the almost-rhyme "See a pin and pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck.

Answer 5

If you are in a setting when donations or payments are expected, a button can pass in the moment and easily be explained if detected and an explanation becomes necessary.

“Who put these buttons in the offering plate today?” I asked, holding the buttons in the palm of my hand.

A tiny little girl with big green eyes, bigger now because of her fear, slowly raised her hand.

“I did, Brother Jim.”

“Why did you do that?” Apparently, she heard the disapproval in my voice. Her big green eyes filled with tears.

With her voice breaking, she said, “I didn’t mean to do anything bad. I just wanted to make an offering to God, like you said we should. But I don’t have any money like the other people. So I asked my Momma what could I give and she gave me those buttons from her sewing box. She said maybe somebody could use the buttons to help someone make some clothes.”

https://goodfaithmedia.org/think-twice-when-you-find-buttons-in-your-offering-plate-cms-19801/

The mother's explanation was meant to give the girl enough confidence to pass off the button, and avoid shaming the family for not having enough money. The pastor was not convinced by the mother's story, but he knew the girl was and meant it.

Clearly, a button can only hide amongst enough real coinage.

If you only pay in buttons, you don't pay enough real coinage to hide it amongst, it means that you can't properly hide that you aren't paying, and your inability to pay is obvious.

If you can afford to arrive in horse and buggy, you ought to be able to afford to pay, so there's nothing to hide or excuse that failure.

Answer 6

I've had the chance to ask the author and, in this particular instance, it means "being paid in actual buttons or a similar token", and not "being paid a pittance". I appreciate your feedback.

Answer 7

I was born in the 60's in Manchester, UK. My parents would use the phrase "it costs buttons". This meant it was of little financial cost. I now assume this must therefor be a mancunian only phrase. It may date back to Manchester being known as Cottonopolis. Then when mass produced buttons became available, what were valuble handmade buttons became valueless.