# Re: A Penny For Your Thoughts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-a-penny-for-your-thoughts/86876>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [October 11, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-a-penny-for-your-thoughts/86876 "2001-10-11T20:10:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JohnNSS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@JohnNSS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnNSS)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-a-penny-for-your-thoughts/86876/1 "2001-10-11T20:10:55Z")

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A mark was not 240 pennies, it was 100 pennies. Two hundred forty pennies was a pound.

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-a-penny-for-your-thoughts/86876/2 "2001-10-11T21:32:36Z")

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Thanks for the post, JohnNSS, and welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards. It’s helpful when you start a topic to provide a link to the Staff Report, so that others can have a clue what you’re talking about: [What’s the origin of “a penny for your thoughts”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpennythoughts.html)

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-a-penny-for-your-thoughts/86876/3 "2001-10-12T22:12:33Z")

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While it’s true that the word “proverb” as used today seems to mean just pithy sayings that offer some sort of warning or advice, at the time when Heywood published his book, the word had a broader meaning which included expressions such as “in one ear and out the other”.

Not too long after Heywood’s time, Pieter Bruegel painted [The Flemish Proverbs](http://www.abcgallery.com/B/bruegel/bruegel11.html). This picture is really more a graphic depiction of various idioms in the Flemish language of the time. In this excerpt, we see people casting roses before swine, carrying baskets of light into the sunshine, fishing behind the net, and many more.

So while Heywood’s title does seem like a misnomer to us, it definitely wasn’t at the time.

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**Author:** ![Marc\_Fleury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Marc\_Fleury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Fleury)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-a-penny-for-your-thoughts/86876/4 "2001-10-14T14:30:05Z")

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When someone solicits your opinion, they offer a penny for your thoughts. But when they offer their _own_ opinion, they put in their two cents’ worth.

## Are they just overestimating the value of their ideas, or is there a profit to be made in the exchange of thoughts?

Marc.