Re: Slang for money [was: Re: Backup Consensus?]
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 03:31:58AM -0600, will trillich wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 28, 2003 at 04:13:56PM +0000, Pigeon wrote:
> > 1 pound = 240 (old) pennies
> > 1 pound = 100 new pennies
> > Quid = pound (slang)
> > Pence = alternative form of Pennies
> > Shilling = 12 old pennies = 5 new pennies
> > Half-crown = 2/6 (2 shillings and 6 pence), 30 old pennies, 12.5 new
> > pennies
> > Bob = shilling (slang)
> > Hapenny = half-penny (elision)
> > Thruppenny bit = 3 (old) penny coin
>
> so (old) 1 pound/quid was 20 shillings/bobs, each of which was
> 12 pence/pennies, for a total of 240 pence/d; a crown would have
> been 4bob+12d (60d, or 1/4quid, also 15 thrupenny).
You wouldn't tend to say "x bob and ..."; "x shillings and y pence" was
usually pronounced "x and y" or "x and ypence", so a crown would have
been "four and twelvepence", except that 12d == 1s, so a crown was
actually five shillings.
"Quid" tends not to be used with fractions. "Five quid", yes; "1/4
quid", no. Oh, and neither "bob" nor "quid" normally takes an "s" in the
plural.
> and the new system has much less romance:
>
> 1? = 100p, woo hoo (no bob?)
I think I might have heard "bob" still used for 5p, but I wouldn't swear
to it. The term's sometimes still used by older people to refer to an
unspecified small amount of money. I don't fall into that category,
though; I just about remember ha'pennies before they were abolished in
1984.
--
Colin Watson [cjwatson@flatline.org.uk]
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