Why & who is being “strangled by a toad”?

In the old days, diseases that caused suffocation and a feeling of heaviness in the chest were called ‘zhaba’ (‘toad’). For example, tonsillitis or diphtheria was referred to as a ‘throat toad’, while angina pectoris was called a ‘chest toad’. In the first case, the swollen throat of the patient and, in the second, the unpleasant greenish complexion, were reminiscent of the amphibian. The association may, of course, not have been particularly elegant, but it was certainly vivid. Both with a sore throat and with heart problems, people experience extremely unpleasant sensations, as if a toad were actually sitting on their chest or in their throat. The toad’s bad reputation also played a role, as frogs and toads were traditionally associated with witchcraft.

A more glamorous version traces the expression to stiff, uncomfortable jabot collars. Supposedly, the sensation was similar, whether caused by a fashionable accessory or by the reluctance to part with your money. In any case, the image of a toad preventing you from breathing freely at the slightest hint of spending money proved remarkably enduring and came to be used more and more widely. Eventually, it became a way of describing anyone who is stingy or reluctant to spend.

An English equivalent would be: “My wallet is crying.”