Re: Slang for money [was: Re: Backup Consensus?]
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003 22:32, Colin Watson wrote:
> 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.
>
In Oz we used to be on Lsd also, changed in 1966. And sure it was 2 quid
except when someone avered that "They wouldn't be dead for quids"
Bob
Here in Oz we use the metric system. The unit of length is the metre, unless
you have a 1000 of them; then it's the mutter.
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