If we try to get rid of a counterfeit coin by passing it off upon somebody
else, sooner or later it will find the way back into our pocket. Figuratively
a bad penny is a ne’er-do-all-well, the black sheep of the family. We use the
proverb in reference to a young man who leaves home in disgrace and returns
there after a long absence in the hope that all is forgiven.

> A man said to his companion in a public house:

> ‘Who’s that down-at-hill fellow propped against the bar? I seem to know his
face.’

> ‘Don’t you remember him? That’s Alec Palmer, the drunken oaf. His father
threw him out years ago. When the old man died he sneaked back home to live
rent-free and spend his mother’s pension on beer. A bad penny if ever there
was one.’