Sunny's question of March 4, 2000:

"As long as you're stuck for the fifty dollars, you might as well sit down here and tell me what your problem is."

What does "you are stuck for" mean? Is it a common expression?

Yes, it's quite common. It's hard to say what is happening without a little more context, but it sounds as if the person in this sentence has spent fifty dollars that he or she cannot get back. The speaker is saying that the person who spent the fifty dollars may as well use this time to talk about his or her problem, because the fifty dollars that was spent to get there cannot be gotten back.

"To be stuck for (some amount of money)" is an expression that is used a couple of different ways. One meaning is that we cannot get our money back, even if we don't use the good or service that we paid for.

I decided not to fly to Hokkaido after all, but I'm stuck for the 27,000 yen that I paid for the discount airplane ticket. (I can't get a refund.)

We also use it to mean that someone has made us pay a bill or put us in the position of having to pay for something (e.g. at a restaurant).

Joe never brings his wallet when we go out for lunch, so I always get stuck with the bill.