Second of two idioms to do with peoples names. What does rob Peter to pay Paul mean?
It goes back to 1963 and the folk group Peter, Paul & Mary. It has to do with the lopsided royalty contract that wss disadvantageous to Peter Yarrow wherein he was required to accept either chickens or Rubles as payment and Paul Stookey was paid in $20 gold pieces. If chickens or Rubles were not handy, then Peter lost his payment and Paul was credited with the difference. Incidentally, Mary Travers was paid by standard check and as far as I know none of those checks bounced.
