# 3&20 for eggs? London **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861 "2019-06-21T20:37:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/1 "2019-06-21T20:37:23Z")
Ok, i was watching one of those house/apt hunting shows, this one with the fabulous Richard Blanco in London. So the guy was buying a half dozen eggs at a outdoors market and the price was “3&20” which has to be three pounds, 20 pence, amirite? Which translates to like $10 a dozen? :eek: Are eggs really that expensive in London? 😕 Yeah, I know, farm fresh, organic, etc, but still… and donuts (great looking ones, however) were like 2&30? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/2 "2019-06-21T21:02:27Z")
Tesco supermarkets sell Large Free Range eggs for £1.89 a dozen. They also sell 5 jam (aka jelly) doughnuts for £0.80 Also, what’s with “&” in your prices? Are you mishearing “Three pound twenty”? Pound may be pronounced “Paand” in a London accent. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/3 "2019-06-21T21:11:15Z")
The phrase makes me think straight away of old pre-decimalised currency. But “3 and 20” would make no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/4 "2019-06-21T21:17:07Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Which translates to like $10 a dozen? I was at a farmers’ market in the US a couple of weeks ago, and one of the stall was selling eggs for that much a dozen. So it’s not unheard of, for the organic, free-range high-quality stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/5 "2019-06-21T21:25:08Z")
The expression is reminiscent of the old “three and six”, which (in pre-decimal currency) meant three **shillings** and sixpence. > **[Sixpence (British coin)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixpence_(British_coin))** > > The British sixpence (/ˈsɪkspəns/) piece, sometimes known as a tanner or sixpenny bit, was a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1⁄40 of one pound or half of one shilling. It was first minted in 1551, during the reign of Edward VI, and circulated until 1980. The coin was made from silver from its introduction in 1551 until 1947, and thereafter in cupronickel. > Before Decimal Day in 1971, sterling used the Carolingian monetary system (£sd), under which the largest unit was a pound (£), divis... In modern British currency, “three and twenty” means nothing to me. Perhaps it’s a regionalism I’ve never heard of (although I’m from London, so that seems unlikely); or you may be mishearing it; or perhaps this “fabulous” speaker is pretentiously trying to invent his own slang as a throwback? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/6 "2019-06-21T21:29:26Z")
Three (shillings) and 20 (pence) is actually more like 4 and 8, but maybe the guy thinks 3 and 20 sounds better. Four shillings and 8 pence works out to something like 25-30 cents. It might have been a per-egg price for some kind of fancy, farm-fresh, organic egg. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/7 "2019-06-21T21:32:05Z")
A really big donut might be that much at a farmer’s market, yeah. I think they can in the US too. The price difference between supermarkets and farmers’ markets can be huge for some items, but the multipack donuts at supermarkets and the “artisan” donuts sold at trendy markets are a slightly different product. That does seem quite high a price for eggs even at a farmers’ market though, unless they were quail eggs or something. Maybe you misheard? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/8 "2019-06-21T21:53:21Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Three (shillings) and 20 (pence) is actually more like 4 and 8, but maybe the guy thinks 3 and 20 sounds better… Or maybe it’s 4 and 20, and blackbirds not eggs? > **[Sing a Song of Sixpence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_a_Song_of_Sixpence)** > > "Sing a Song of Sixpence" is an English nursery rhyme, perhaps originating in the 18th century. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as number 13191. The sixpence in the rhyme is a British coin that was first minted in 1551. > The rhyme's origins are uncertain. References have been inferred in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (c. 1602), (Twelfth Night 2.3/32–33), where Sir Toby Belch tells a clown: "Come on; there is sixpence for you: let's have a song" and in Beaumont and Fletcher's 1614 play Bo... ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/9 "2019-06-22T00:14:51Z")
> [@ticker](#): > > Tesco supermarkets sell Large Free Range eggs for £1.89 a dozen. > They also sell 5 jam (aka jelly) doughnuts for £0.80 > > Also, what’s with “&” in your prices? Are you mishearing “Three pound twenty”? Pound may be pronounced “Paand” in a London accent. I heard “Three and twenty”, perhaps “Paand” twenty, I guess. How about prices at the open air markets? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/10 "2019-06-22T00:16:00Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I was at a farmers’ market in the US a couple of weeks ago, and one of the stall was selling eggs for that much a dozen. So it’s not unheard of, for the organic, free-range high-quality stuff. Ok, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/11 "2019-06-22T00:50:26Z")
When I convert 3.20 Pounds Sterling to US dollars with Google, I get $4.08. I don’t know how you get $10. At my local grocery, a dozen store-brand eggs are typically $1.33 while Eggland’s Best (not organic or free-range, just premium over-hyped eggs) are $3.95. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/12 "2019-06-22T01:01:25Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > When I convert 3.20 Pounds Sterling to US dollars with Google, I get $4.08. I don’t know how you get $10. > > At my local grocery, a dozen store-brand eggs are typically $1.33 while Eggland’s Best (not organic or free-range, just premium over-hyped eggs) are $3.95. The price he was quoting was for a half dozen. And he probably didn’t look up the recent exchange rate. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/13 "2019-06-22T01:08:47Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Or maybe it’s 4 and 20, and blackbirds not eggs? > > [Sing a Song of Sixpence - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_a_Song_of_Sixpence) Or maybe it was the price for 24 eggs? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/14 "2019-06-22T01:36:18Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ok, i was watching one of those house/apt hunting shows, this one with the fabulous Richard Blanco in London. > > So the guy was buying a half dozen eggs at a outdoors market and the price was “3&20” which has to be three pounds, 20 pence, amirite? > > Which translates to like $10 a dozen? :eek: > > Are eggs really that expensive in London? 😕 > > Yeah, I know, farm fresh, organic, etc, but still… > > and donuts (great looking ones, however) were like 2&30? :eek: £3.20 for a half-dozen eggs seems very expensive no matter how organic they are. But £2.30 for a fancy doughnut is sadly believable. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/15 "2019-06-22T02:15:19Z")
Another data point: free range, fed on proper stuff, eggs from the community farm in Sheffield (oop North) are £1.25. They are a mix of sizes but you usually get a couple of pretty blue ones. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/16 "2019-06-22T03:49:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I was at a farmers’ market in the US a couple of weeks ago, and one of the stall was selling eggs for that much a dozen. So it’s not unheard of, for the organic, free-range high-quality stuff. As to the “high-quality” claim, :dubious: [is in order](http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2002334,00.html). It was interesting to see that some research shows eggs from free-range hens actually have higher levels of PCBs, because the birds can run around pecking stuff from god knows where. If we’re talking about quality of bird life, that’s another story. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/17 "2019-06-22T09:38:20Z")
> [@ticker](#): > > Tesco supermarkets sell Large Free Range eggs for £1.89 a dozen. > They also sell 5 jam (aka jelly) doughnuts for £0.80 > > Also, what’s with “&” in your prices? Are you mishearing “Three pound twenty”? Pound may be pronounced “Paand” in a London accent. Surely it would more like ‘Free paaaaaawn twenee for arf a dozen Simon Peggs, squire. At vem prices we’d best call the old Bill [filth, rozzers, peelers etc] coz you’d be robbin’ me blind.’ and so on, for as long as the cameras keep rolling and the tourists wandering past. Or possibly he just did a bit of free-form poetry, inserting the name “[Richard Blanco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Blanco)” casually between the words ‘Fool’ and "Money soon parted’? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/18 "2019-06-22T12:50:06Z")
Here’s the price range for the upmarket supermarket: [https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/shop/browse/groceries/fresh\_and\_chilled/milk\_butter\_and\_eggs/free\_range\_eggs](https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/shop/browse/groceries/fresh_and_chilled/milk_butter_and_eggs/free_range_eggs) £3.20 for half a dozen is not beyond the realms of possibility for some people. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/19 "2019-06-22T13:31:06Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > When I convert 3.20 Pounds Sterling to US dollars with Google, I get $4.08. I don’t know how you get $10. > > At my local grocery, a dozen store-brand eggs are typically $1.33 while Eggland’s Best (not organic or free-range, just premium over-hyped eggs) are $3.95. Yeah, a dozen max-cruelty-eggs at my local Lidl are about the same price as that, A dozen free range are the equivalent of $2. You go to a farmers-market though and of course all bets are off. [Armstrong and Miller](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtn1a-7TnOE) captured it nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861/20 "2019-06-22T13:37:37Z")
At the farmer’s market I was at a couple of days ago, the stall next to us was selling free-range organic cruelty-free etc. eggs for $4 a dozen, and it was notable to us because Mom only charges $3 for hers. Though she’s not seriously trying to make money from it, mostly just doing it as a hobby and selling to a select list of neighbors. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-20-for-eggs-london/835861.md?page=2)