# How did the dash come to mean "dollars"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348 "2011-05-26T20:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/1 "2011-05-26T20:26:34Z")
Oftentimes, instead of seeing something written as $10, it is written as 10-. How did the dash come to mean “dollars”? (Two questions in a row, I’m on a roll!) ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/2 "2011-05-26T20:31:57Z")
I never took it to mean dollars, but that the dash indicates no cents ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/3 "2011-05-26T20:32:14Z")
It doesn’t. It means “no cents.” The dollar sign is implied. ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/4 "2011-05-26T20:34:55Z")
Oh. I never knew that. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/5 "2011-05-26T20:35:29Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > Oftentimes, instead of seeing something written as $10, it is written as 10-. > > How did the dash come to mean “dollars”? > > (Two questions in a row, I’m on a roll!) I don’t know how it came about or spread. However when I worked as a bank teller, this is how we were trained: if a dollar value was even, draw a line through the cents column. If a customer had carefully written in “00” in the cents column of a deposit or withdrawal slip we were to strike it through. I guess a “0” can be mistaken for a 6 if scribbled or altered into an 8. A line doesn’t look like any number and can’t be confused for anything other than nothing. I haven’t noticed that writing $2.00 as $2-- is common though, to tell you the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/6 "2011-05-26T20:37:24Z")
It means “even” or “no cents.” It does not replace the dollar sign. (If the latter is not implied, as **beowulff** says, you may say both dollar sign before and dash after. That’s what I do.) Think of the dash as a fraction bar. Some people will write an even number of dollars by ending with “00” over a dash, with an implicit “100” below. Or you can just draw the dash. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/7 "2011-05-26T21:00:22Z")
I do not know the history but yes it is normal accounting notation for no cents or 0 I’m betting it is another symbol lost to the limited number of keys on a keyboard but if you open up excel, enter a 0 and then change the formating to “accounting” you will have a $ — note it is an em dash and not a shorter en dash - ---
**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:** [May 26, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/8 "2011-05-26T21:08:14Z")
The IRS used to want zero dollar amounts written like this: -0-. I don’t know if they still do. My dad’s a CPA and I grew up seeing -0- all over the place. It looks to me like a zero plopped into the middle of a dash, as if someone couldn’t make up their mind which glyph served the purpose better, and thought heck, why not split the difference… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/9 "2011-05-26T22:38:17Z")
My father also used to write amounts in his sales receipts with the number for the dollars, then a line with the numbers for cents above the line, about half size. But if there were no cents, then just the line, without “00” above it. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/10 "2011-05-26T23:10:47Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > My father also used to write amounts in his sales receipts with the number for the dollars, then a line with the numbers for cents above the line, about half size. That’s right. That was exactly what I meant before. Write the cents (the numerator of a fractional dollar) above the line. A denominator of 100 is universal, and therefore optional, usually unwritten. If there are no cents (numerator of 0), then that is also optional, usually unwritten; you have just the line. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/11 "2011-05-27T00:15:10Z")
When I was younger, I often saw prices posted (in stores) or shown in newspaper ads as: $2.[sup]oo[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/12 "2011-05-27T00:22:30Z")
I would take that as a redundancy, like “.50¢” or “$20 dollars.” There’s no reason to have a point _and_ a line. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/13 "2011-05-27T01:15:15Z")
When the British used shillings (before decimal currency was introduced in 1967), they often expressed monetary amounts in shilling/pence form. For example, six shillings and two pence was 6/2, while just six shillings was 6/-. Could this be an influence? ---
**Author:** ![samjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@samjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samjones)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/14 "2011-05-27T02:13:18Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > Oftentimes, instead of seeing something written as $10, it is written as 10-. > > How did the dash come to mean “dollars”? > > (Two questions in a row, I’m on a roll!) Seems like only yesterday that you could get a pretty good dash for a nickel. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/15 "2011-05-27T02:14:23Z")
Am I the only one that has never seen this before this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-dash-come-to-mean-dollars/583348/16 "2011-05-27T02:26:43Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > When the British used shillings (before decimal currency was introduced in 1967), they often expressed monetary amounts in shilling/pence form. For example, six shillings and two pence was 6/2, while just six shillings was 6/-. Could this be an influence? It may be an Urban Legend, but I seem to recall reading that the virgule (/) was actually originally a “long s” (like an uncrossed _f_) standing for _solidus_, the L.s.d being respectively _librae_, _solidi_, and _denarii_.