# Please explain British money to a yank... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 20, 2000, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019 "2000-05-20T01:32:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jayron\_32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/21 "2000-05-22T16:26:33Z")
$.25 – Two bits (from when Dollar coins were based on the Spanish Reals, and were often cut into 8 pieces or “bits” to make smaller change) $1.00 – Buck (Buck is also colloquial slang for the number (not denomination) “hundred”. Where I grew up, we’d say “rolling a buck” for driving 100 miles/hour) $5.00 – Fin, finster, fiver $10.00 – Sawbuck (goes back to old ten dollar notes which had the roman numeral X printed on them… resembled a sawhorse (sawbuck)) $20.00 – Double Sawbuck $100.00 – C-note, Hundy, Benjamin $1000.00 – Grand, G ---
**Author:** ![RussellM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@RussellM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RussellM)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/22 "2000-05-22T16:29:43Z")
We probably shouldn’t remind them that Scottish notes can be printed by The Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale bank - and that all of them look different. Russell ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/23 "2000-05-22T21:04:32Z")
… and don’t forget the Northern Ireland notes either! ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/24 "2000-05-22T22:29:10Z")
…of course, here we go with Gibraltar coinage… ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/25 "2000-05-22T22:56:26Z")
They also use ‘pounds’ in Egypt - different kind. My linguistic abilities - not being what they should be - cannot confirm that 500 pounds in Cairo is known to the locals as ‘a camal’ ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/26 "2000-05-23T02:16:38Z")
Jayron 32 said > [@](#): > > $.25 – Two bits (from when Dollar coins were based on the Spanish Reals, and were often cut into 8 pieces or “bits” to make smaller change) Not to hijack this thread, but I have been considering writing a thread as to how I believe this to be an UL. As a professional coin dealer for over 30 years, specializing in World Coins, these cut-up pieces of 8 Real coins just don’t show up! Yet people pass along the story that they were cut into fractional bits. BS I say! ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/27 "2000-05-23T10:59:55Z")
In trading we call a billion of anything a “yard” after the imperial measure of distance (not the place you put your pool). ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/28 "2002-07-31T00:08:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*Considering the fact that we still have a candy bar called _100 Grand_ it certainly still gets used. \*\* Just for the record, Nestle’s “100 Grand” bar used to be called the “$100,000 Bar”. No, really! ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/29 "2002-07-31T01:37:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*Considering the fact that we still have a candy bar called _100 Grand_ it certainly still gets used. \*\* Just for the record, Nestle’s “100 Grand” bar used to be called the “$100,000 Bar”. No, really! ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/30 "2002-07-31T02:50:04Z")
also if you were to buy a “dime bag”`of certain illicit substances, you’d be buying $10 worth ---
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/31 "2002-07-31T03:15:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*originally posted by **Kipper** > > 2/6 means two shillings and six pence and is refered to as half a bob or a half crown. A crown was a five shilling piece or one bob.\* Actually a bob was the same as a shilling. See [http://65.107.211.206/economics/currency.html](http://65.107.211.206/economics/currency.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Crude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/32 "2002-07-31T04:17:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*Jayron 32 said > > Not to hijack this thread, but I have been considering writing a thread as to how I believe this to be an UL. > > As a professional coin dealer for over 30 years, specializing in World Coins, these cut-up pieces of 8 Real coins just don’t show up! Yet people pass along the story that they were cut into fractional bits. BS I say! \*\* As far as I know, the American term “two bits” has nothing to do with cutting up coins – you’re thinking of “pieces of eight.” The story I heard was that during the period when the phrase came into use, two bits (the thing that goes in a horse’s mouth that is attached to the reins) cost 25 cents. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/33 "2002-07-31T13:20:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > \*\*Top of my head… > > A Fiver = £5 > A Tenner = £10 > A Score = £20 > A Pony = £25 > A Bullseye = £50 > A One-er = £100 > A Monkey = £500 > A Grand = £1,000 > An Archer = varies, not settled yet but usually £2,000 \*\* It should be emphasised that you don’t need to know most of these terms unless you are intend opening up a market stall in east London and doing business with dodgy cockney geezers. Using them anywhere else is likely to get you called “a plonka” and accused of watching too much TV. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/34 "2002-07-31T13:36:41Z")
On similar lines to the above: A Jacks (alive) =£5 A cockle (and hen) =£10 A McGarret = £50 (from Hawaii five-0) A Carpet = £300 (no idea why) A Ton = £100 A Burlington (Bertie) £30 hope this helps me old china. Also a groat was 4d ---
**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:** [July 31, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/35 "2002-07-31T16:02:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*Jayron 32 said > > Not to hijack this thread, but I have been considering writing a thread as to how I believe this to be an UL. > > As a professional coin dealer for over 30 years, specializing in World Coins, these cut-up pieces of 8 Real coins just don’t show up! Yet people pass along the story that they were cut into fractional bits. BS I say! \*\* The slightly different variant I’ve heard is that when the Spanish dollar and US dollar circulated at equal value, actual one Real coins (not cut up 8 Real dollar pieces) were known as “bits”, leading to a quarter = 2 bits. Perhaps you could comment on the veracity of that notion. It also begs the question of why the Real would have been called a “bit”. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/36 "2002-07-31T16:52:33Z")
Pounds are also the currency in Cyprus but they are divided into 100 cents and not pence. Currently the Cyprus pound is worth about 10% more than the UK pound. On the question of what " four and six " means this helped to trap a German spy in WW2. He had landed by parachute in England and walked to a railway station to buy a ticket. The clerk told him it was something like " three and six " and he gave the clerk three pounds and six shillings instead of three shillings and six pence. The clerk became suspicious , called the police and the spy was arrested. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/37 "2002-07-31T17:05:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cap’n Crude \* > \*\* > As far as I know, the American term “two bits” has nothing to do with cutting up coins – you’re thinking of “pieces of eight.” The story I heard was that during the period when the phrase came into use, two bits (the thing that goes in a horse’s mouth that is attached to the reins) cost 25 cents. \*\* Um, no. This slang comes from the southwest of USA. There was a Spanish coin that was called a bit that was equal to 1/8th of a Spanish dollar. The term bit took on the colloquial meaning of 1/8th of something. 1/8th of a dollar is 12.5 cents. Therefore a quarter, or any other combination of coins equaling 25 cents, was referred to as two bits. There was at one point even a slang term for the dime that referred to it as a “short bit”. I used to have a really good link for this one but can’t find it right now. Here is another that says pretty much the same thing amongst a great deal of dancing about. > **[Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com?date=19971006)** > > Committed to publishing great books, connecting readers and authors globally, and spreading the love of reading. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019/38 "2002-07-31T20:57:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \* > \*\*London\_c says: \<\< You don’t really need to know about all the old terminology \>\> > > Not unless you happen to be reading a book, or watching a movie or tv show, from before 1970, say. \*\* I’ve heard a lot of terms from watching the various “Blackadder” series, all of which take place before 1918. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-british-money-to-a-yank/20019.md?page=1)