# 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:** 4
**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, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/61 "2012-11-30T19:27:44Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > You mean, the “English System”? No, I don’t - the American system of volume is different from the one which was used in Britain - pints and gallons are different on each side of the Atlantic. And although some imperial units are still used commonly in conversation in Britain, they have little to no legal or professional status in Britain now. Pints (of milk and beer) and miles (in a car) are the only ones which are still used officially, I think. ---
**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, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/62 "2012-11-30T19:52:27Z")
I recall that the half crown was also known as “half a dollar” less to do with Spanish money than the old Dollar pound exchange rate. ---
**Author:** ![MELso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@MELso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MELso)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/63 "2012-12-01T00:00:01Z")
Australia also had a few unique nicknames for pre-decimal currency. e.g. 6d was a zack, 1s was a deener and 3d was a trey… ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/64 "2012-12-01T00:12:52Z")
> [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > No, I don’t - the American system of volume is different from the one which was used in Britain - pints and gallons are different on each side of the Atlantic. And although some imperial units are still used commonly in conversation in Britain, they have little to no legal or professional status in Britain now. Pints (of milk and beer) and miles (in a car) are the only ones which are still used officially, I think. A pint is a pound the world round. A really annoying mnemonic device once you lean than in most of the world a pint is 20 ounces. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/65 "2012-12-01T00:16:57Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > 1 guinea=21 shillings(slang) “Slang.” “Slang,” he says. :shakes head slowly: ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/66 "2012-12-01T00:19:36Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > I made a three week trip to Nigeria in 1971, when they were still using the pound - shilling - pence currency. It’s amazing how fast one can start thinking in another currency under a total immersion situation. In fact, when I returned to the U.S. I found myself, for a few days, automatically translating our decimal stuff to the British system. Were you taking LSD? ---
**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:** [December 1, 2012, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/67 "2012-12-01T09:07:03Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > A pint is a pound the world round. A really annoying mnemonic device once you lean than in most of the world a pint is 20 ounces. US fluid ounces are slightly larger than British ones, US pints have 16 US fluid ounces in them whereas British pints have 20 British fluid ounces in them. British pints are noticeably larger than US ones. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/68 "2012-12-01T09:08:46Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > “Slang.” “Slang,” he says. > > :shakes head slowly: Username/post combo FTW! ---
**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:** [December 1, 2012, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/69 "2012-12-01T09:36:33Z")
> [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > No, I don’t - the American system of volume is different from the one which was used in Britain - pints and gallons are different on each side of the Atlantic. And although some imperial units are still used commonly in conversation in Britain, they have little to no legal or professional status in Britain now. Pints (of milk and beer) and miles (in a car) are the only ones which are still used officially, I think. It is slightly ironic, though not necessarily interesting, that this was my 1000th post (except for those lost in the Winter of Lost Content around 9 years ago, you will have to take my word for it that they were all the wittiest and most erudite posts ever seen on these boards). I will have to try and put my 1760th post in a thread on the metric system. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2012, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/70 "2012-12-01T09:53:43Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > You mean, the “English System”? Which, ironically, isn’t the same as the Imperial system formerly used in England. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/71 "2012-12-01T10:05:25Z")
Don’t forget the [groat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groat_(coin)). Everyone forgets the groat… ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/72 "2012-12-01T10:56:42Z")
I grew up in England in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and never had any trouble understanding LSD. Then my family moved to Australia, which had a similar currency with some small differences: (1) Australia didn’t have the farthing; (2) In England 1½d was three ha’pence, but in Australia it was a penny ha’penny; (3) The Australia three-penny bit was a small silver coin, not a dodecahedral one like the British coin; (4) Australia didn’t have half crowns, but it did have a crown (5/-) issued in 1937, but very rarely seen in circulation. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/73 "2012-12-01T11:01:15Z")
> [@sidecar\_jon](#): > > Some people still say Bob,usually ten bob (which used to be a note) in an ironic sort of way. _Mean Mister Mustard sleeps in the park Shaves in the dark trying to save paper Sleeps in a hole in the road Saving up to buy some clothes Keeps a ten bob note up his nose Such a mean old man_ Beatles ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/74 "2012-12-01T12:05:37Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I grew up in England in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and never had any trouble understanding LSD. Then my family moved to Australia, which had a similar currency with some small differences: > (1) Australia didn’t have the farthing; > (2) In England 1½d was three ha’pence, but in Australia it was a penny ha’penny; > (3) The Australia three-penny bit was a small silver coin, not a dodecahedral one like the British coin; > (4) Australia didn’t have half crowns, but it did have a crown (5/-) issued in 1937, but very rarely seen in circulation. The English threepence wasn’t dodecahedral, either! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/75 "2012-12-01T12:27:26Z")
Some of the Brits I know often speak of “stupid money.” It means _either_ very little money _or_ quite a lot – I need context to discern which. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/76 "2012-12-01T12:40:18Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Actually, you’re not far off. > [Spend A Penny - Meaning & Origin Of The Phrase](http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/spend-a-penny.html) Hmmm. > [@](#): > > Such locks were first introduced, at a public toilet outside the Royal Exchange, London, in the 1850s. The term itself is later though. The first recorded citation of it is in H. Lewis’s Strange Story, 1945: “‘Us girls,’ she said, ‘are going to spend a penny!’” So it took them 95 years to work up that euphemism? Seems a tad slow. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/77 "2012-12-01T13:42:03Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > they had stones. I got that, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/78 "2012-12-01T14:32:11Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > The English threepence wasn’t dodecahedral, either! 😛 Indeed. It was tetradecahedral, a dodecagonal prism. In an unrelated nitpick, “quid”, “bob”, “nicker” and so forth are not mass nouns. They are countable nouns whose plural forms happen to be the same as the singular. ---
**Author:** ![Bisected8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Bisected8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bisected8)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/79 "2012-12-01T15:08:25Z")
> [@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? Well, I don’t know about the USA, but we still call 1p and 2p coins “coppers” here (although they’re technically copper alloy coated iron, these days). ---
**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:** [December 1, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477/80 "2012-12-01T22:51:35Z")
> [@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? > [@Oswald\_Bastable](#): > > 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 > [@Bisected8](#): > > Well, I don’t know about the USA, but we still call 1p and 2p coins “coppers” here (although they’re technically copper alloy coated iron, these days). That branch of the family was Irish. I’m not sure how they got to that area, but I’ve read the Scots-Irish were the frontier fighters during the Revolutionary War, and some of the gravestones I’ve seen of my ancestors before her indicated they may have been in Arkansas as early as the 1830s. I’m wondering if my great-grandmother’s practice of using the term “coppers” was an Old World holdover. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-money-before-decimalization/642477.md?page=5)