# English money before decimalization **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477 "2012-11-29T16:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [November 30, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/41 "2012-11-30T12:33:31Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > They charged an extra penny? What a con. D’oh, 5/5. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/42 "2012-11-30T14:32:42Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Ah yes, silver threepennies and sixpences. Grandmothers used to bake them into Xmas puddings as surprises for the kids. Modern alloy coins don’t work for that purpose -I guess they are too reactive to the chemicals in the pudding. So grannies keep a stash of the old coins around just for Xmas each year, but they have to collect them to recycle for the next year. Cute custom. I don’t think silver fares very well in a hot, wet, acidic environment (such as a plum pudding being steamed for hours) - in my experience, grannies actually surreptitiously insert the coins into a slit made with a knife, just before serving. That is if they do it at all. Coins in food are pretty risky by current standards. ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/43 "2012-11-30T15:04:01Z")
Brian May or Queen used to (maybe still does) use a silver tanner (six old pence) as a plectrum. He used to get showered with them at concerts long after they went out of circulation. there’s is also a confusion that may arise it is quite common to find old looking silver coins that are Maundy money. Maundy money is distributed by the queen to elderly recipients on the Thursday before good Friday. [Royal Maundy - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Maundy) The coins turn up in antique shops and look old but often are not. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/44 "2012-11-30T15:05:15Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Grandpa Simpson:\*\*\* “My car get thirty rods to the hogshead and that’s how I like it!”\*\*\* Rod = 16.5 feet Hogshead = 145 gallons So 495 feet on 145 gallons. Awesome milage there, Lou. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/45 "2012-11-30T15:08:42Z")
> [@fumster](#): > > I visited the UK the summer after the shift to decimal. I had to help some of the older shop keeper figure out change. Can’t imagine how hard it was to change your currency after using it your whole life. Me, too. That was a fun summer. It was a nice change (sorry) from the rest of Europe, where I always had to ask about conversion rates and how much was that in real money and always looking like an idiot. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/46 "2012-11-30T15:14:27Z")
> [@sidecar\_jon](#): > > tanner = silver six pence (6D) > Thrupenybit = three penny coin (bit) > > going further back a Farthing = quarter penny also know and a wren or jenny wren (it had the bird on its revers) Thrupenybit - also known as Thrupence ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/47 "2012-11-30T15:29:31Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > Thrupenybit - also known as Thrupence Thrupence, like tupence (for which there was no pre-decimalization coin), was just an amount of money, not the coin. You could pay it with a thrupenny bit, but equally well with three pennies, twelve farthings, or whatever. For higher amounts in pennies, we used to say a number followed by “pence” with the first **e** being a schwa (if that), but I remember on the day decimalization came in all the shop assistants were pronouncing “pence” very carefully and precisely, with that **e** clearly sounded. That seems to have stuck. Old pennies were “pnce”, the new ones are “p **e** nce”. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/48 "2012-11-30T15:37:27Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Rod = 16.5 feet > Hogshead = 145 gallons > > So 495 feet on 145 gallons. Awesome milage there, Lou. Your hogs must have very big heads. According to [most](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hogshead) [sources](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hogshead?view=uk), a [hogshead](http://www.freedictionary.org/?Query=hogshead), although variable, was usually about 63 gallons or [even less](http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/hogshead). ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/49 "2012-11-30T15:49:41Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Seriously, how the hell did the Brits ever conquer the damn world thinking like that. > > It’s a mystery. they had stones. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/50 "2012-11-30T15:51:14Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Thrupence, like tupence (for which there was no pre-decimalization coin), was just an amount of money, not the coin. You could pay it with a thrupenny bit, but equally well with three pennies, twelve farthings, or whatever. > > For higher amounts in pennies, we used to say a number followed by “pence” with the first **e** being a schwa (if that), but I remember on the day decimalization came in all the shop assistants were pronouncing “pence” very carefully and precisely, with that **e** clearly sounded. That seems to have stuck. Old pennies were “pnce”, the new ones are “p **e** nce”. Leading, as a hypercorrection, to people talking about “one pence” when they were referring to the new money. Never in its history has the 1p coin been marked “one pence” - it was “1 new penny” all through the 1970s or round about, then “1 penny” ever since. The other speech habit that came in was “1 pee”, “2 pee” etc - presumably to distinguish from the old penny and old pence, but sticking long after there was any need. Various people have complained about it to little effect. ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/51 "2012-11-30T15:58:43Z")
> [@Bisected8](#): > > ^ I’m pretty sure a bob was a shilling (I’ve only ever heard it used in the phrase “a few bob” to mean an indeterminate amount of money). I still user 10 Bob = 50p(pence) 2 Bob = 10p A couple of Bob - some monedy - as in could you bung me a couple of bob till payday (could you load me some cash till payday) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/52 "2012-11-30T16:07:35Z")
My great-grandmother in rural Arkansas would give me what she called “coppers” back when I was real little. Pennies they were, but “coppers” was what her generation called them. She was born sometime around 1870-80 or so. Has anyone else heard this? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/53 "2012-11-30T16:10:37Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > I still user > 10 Bob = 50p(pence) > 2 Bob = 10p > A couple of Bob - some monedy - as in could you bung me a couple of bob till payday (could you load me some cash till payday) Also if something is “worth a few bob” that means that it is worth quite a lot of bobs. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/54 "2012-11-30T16:15:18Z")
Wasn’t the guinea also referred to as a “Gold Sovereign”? Resulting in the joke that when the new 1-pound coin came out, some wag suggested it be called the “Thatcher” - because it’s thick and brassy and thinks it’s a sovereign… ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/55 "2012-11-30T16:43:57Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > My great-grandmother in rural Arkansas would give me what she called “coppers” back when I was real little. Pennies they were, but “coppers” was what her generation called them. She was born sometime around 1870-80 or so. Has anyone else heard this? This is still pretty common usage in the UK to refer to pennies and 2 pence coins. “That’ll be 23 pence, sir.” “Oh, I’ve only got coppers.” “That’s quite alright, sir, I need the change.” OB ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/56 "2012-11-30T17:20:57Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > I still user > 10 Bob = 50p(pence) > 2 Bob = 10p Survival of obsolete unit names. That reminds me of something. In really old US money, I’m talking like 18th century US, when we were still using the Spanish real, ⅛ dollar=12½ cents=1 bit ¼ dollar=25 cents=2 bits ¾ dollar=75 cents=6 bits (a sum memorialized in a certain folksong set in a barbershop) The sum of ½ cent and the value of 1 bit became obsolete in the US a very long time ago. And yet, “two bits” for a quarter (the most commonly occurring value expressed in bits) and “two-bit” as a contemptuous adjective survived into my lifetime and maybe even the present day. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/57 "2012-11-30T18:01:52Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Wasn’t the guinea also referred to as a “Gold Sovereign”? > > Resulting in the joke that when the new 1-pound coin came out, some wag suggested it be called the “Thatcher” - because it’s thick and brassy and thinks it’s a sovereign… No, a sovereign was a pound, a half-sovereign was 10s, but a guinea was usually 21s (or £1 1s). The idiom is still used when talking of horse-racing and so on, but you don’t tend to see lady’s dresses, school fees or land prices quoted in guineas any more. > [@Johanna](#): > > ¾ dollar=75 cents=6 bits (a sum memorialized in a certain folksong set in a barbershop) It’s also in _Tom Sawyer_ when Tom is telling Huck (IIRC) all about the wonders of European kings going around covered in jewels that are all worth “six bits or a dollar”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/58 "2012-11-30T18:44:27Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Seriously, how the hell did the Brits ever conquer the damn world thinking like that. > > It’s a mystery. You do realise that until the French and American revolutions pretty much everybody used such a system? Also, why do you think the old British money was any more difficult to use than the current American systems for measuring length, weight and volume? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/59 "2012-11-30T19:00:06Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Seriously, how the hell did the Brits ever conquer the damn world thinking like that. > > It’s a mystery. We didn’t call it the LSD system for nothing, you know. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/60 "2012-11-30T19:12:39Z")
> [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > than the current American systems for measuring length, weight and volume? You mean, the “English System”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477.md?page=4)