Does a ‘hole in the wall’ serve food or money?

• By Koop Tissingh
• Tuesday June 12th, 2018

(BrE) hole in the wall = geldautomaat, flappentap
(AmE) hole in the wall = eettentje, restaurantje

Voorbeeld (BrE) hole-in-the-wall:
– She could find a hotel, but she did not want a hotel, because the money would be gone in two days and she did not have a cash card to put in a hole in the wall, even if she could have used it. (Frances Fyfield, The Nature of the Beast, ch. 3)

Voorbeelden (AmE) hole-in-the-wall:
– “Diane ate at a place in Georgetown on Friday night called Simpsons. Do you know it?” “Little hole-in-the-wall a block off M Street toward the river. (David Baldacci, True Blue, ch. 64)
– We even went out on the road together, playing some of the best hole-in-the-walls in the Ohio Valley. (David Baldacci, The Camel Club, ch. 40)
– Mac’s a greasy spoon, three blocks from the courthouse, a small sandwich shop, a hole-in-the-wall stuck in a crack between two larger office buildings. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 16)
– So we decide to (…) take a late lunch at a little spot, a hole-in-the wall across from the courthouse (…).  (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 16)

See note 62 of the terminology list ‘same word, different meanings’.

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