off topic-uk money?

[M Holmes]

Carl E. Anderson writes:

> > alright now i may be the only one not to know but how much is a quid?
> > more than a pound? and what the hell is a pence? your monetary sysyem/slang
> > is confusing to this alabama boy. please can someone explain -this has
> > been bothering me for a while-
>
>         Luckily, there is a 'yank' here to translate ;)
>         A 'quid' is to a pound like a 'buck' is to a dollar, if you
> take my meaning .... 'Pence' is the plural of 'penny', ie. one penny,
> two pence.  (I could digress at this point, and discuss the survival
> of Old English plural forms in 'pence' as opposed to a -(e)s plural in
> 'pennies' by analogy with with other nouns of that form, but will try
> to restrain myself ;)
>         For about the last quarter century English money has been decimal,
> ie. 100 pence = 1 pound. ('Pence' is abbreviated 'p', so 10p = 10 pence.)
> Before that, there was a really fabulous system parts of which date back
> to Roman times in which 240 (!) pence = 1 pound, and there were various
> systems of shillings and things in between that which I don't remember
> well ... 20 pence to a shilling and 12 shillings to a pound?  There were
> other weird relics lurking in that system as well.

I grew up with that system:

2 Farthings = 1 HalfPenny (a "Ha'penny")
3 Pennies   = 1 Thrupenny (A "Thrupenny Bit")
6 Pennies   = 1 HalfShilling (a "Tanner" or "Half a Bob")
4 Farthings = 1 Penny
12 Pennies  = 1 Shilling (a "Bob")
2 Shillings = 1 Florin
2.5 Shillings = 1 Half Crown
5 Shillings = 1 Crown

These were all coins

10 Shillings = 1 Half Pound (a "Ten Bob Note")
20 Shillings = 1 Pound

These were notes.

21 Shillings = 1 Guinea (A Pound and a Shilling)

There was not denomination for this but a Guinea was a measure of money
often used in financial transactions because the Shilling was the
commission on the Pound involved in the payment.

> Cheers,
> Carl

FoFP