to spend a penny

The Economistの記事の小見出しに面白い表現がありました。赤字のspend a pennyは、イングランドの英語で、少し古い表現のようですが、「トイレに行く」という意味です。これは、有料トイレ（今でもイングランドにありますね）は、硬貨を入れなければ入れなかったことに由来します。(Othello)

The great innovation debate - Growth
Spend a penny—or two

So there are good reasons for thinking that the 21st century’s innovative juices will flow fast. But there are also reasons to watch out for impediments. The biggest danger is government.

When government was smaller, innovation was easier. Industrialists could introduce new processes or change a product’s design without a man from the ministry claiming some regulation had been broken. It is a good thing that these days pharmaceuticals are stringently tested and factory emissions controlled. But officialdom tends to write far more rules than are necessary for the public good; and thickets of red tape strangle innovation. Even many regulations designed to help innovation are not working well. The West’s intellectual-property system, for instance, is a mess, because it grants too many patents of dubious merit.