# Slang for "euro(s)" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-euro-s/168302 "2003-04-12T18:41:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-euro-s/168302/21 "2003-04-14T13:12:47Z")
Is the word “Euro” capitalised? It’s not spelt that way in our local papers… **sailor** , what you’re referring to is the ‘symbol’ for the unit, not the name. Yes, ‘km’ never takes an s, but the _word_ ‘kilometre’ does in English. Likewise, the euro symbol (that € thing that I don’t have on my keyboard) doesn’t take an s, but the word should in English. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-euro-s/168302/22 "2003-04-14T13:23:52Z")
The 2c coin I have here says (roughly): **2 EURO       CENT** I took this to mean “Cent of the euro variety” rather than the word “eurocent”. ---
**Author:** ![dman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f0a364/32.png) [@dman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dman)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-euro-s/168302/23 "2003-04-14T14:36:56Z")
Re the pluralization, I’d say that the problem (or rather the solution) is that most languages pluralize differently. Adding an ‘s’ in English is achieved by adding -er in several Germanic languages, or ending with -a in several latin-based ones. Then there is all sorts of fluffing about with word gender which affects how it is used in speech. Anyway, by declaring the Euro a natural plural (or whatever it is that fish and sheep are) multi-lingual transactions are much less likely to cause confusion with those extra particles of speech getting stuck in the works. V.clever.🆒 In Greece, the word ‘cent’ is _recognised_, but officially they are allowed to use ‘ **lepta** ’ - which is a long-dead term that used to be used for fractions of Drachma. (imagine! 1 EU=356 Dx ) Um, actually ‘lepta’ (a plural) is also used for ‘minute’ and hence just means ‘fraction’. I have noticed that prices in cents everywhere are written as a decimal: 0.55 EU 0.06 EU (an advertised phone rate) instead of the more familiar (to me) 55c … its meaning is clear, so I call it progress. It certainly travels bettter, and takes the importance away from what a ‘cent’ is called. Back to EU. I’ve heard the word used in diminuative - **Euraki** , but that is apparently bad grammer. A gender-neutral foreign word should not be modified using local speech patterns - but who listens to grammarians? And the last word on Greek Euro - It’s not pronounced that way!! Seing as ‘ **Europe** ’ is in fact a Greek word, the Greeks pronounce it with the native inflection - However the vowel blend ‘_eu_’ represents the sound ‘_ev_’. So, despite the attempts to make sure everyone will be talking about the same thing - a tourist in Greece will be bamboozled hearing about ‘_evro_’ the first few times!:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-euro-s/168302/24 "2003-04-14T19:40:21Z")
> [@](#): > > I have noticed that prices in cents everywhere are written as a decimal: > 0.55 EU > 0.06 EU (an advertised phone rate) > instead of the more familiar (to me) > 55c > … its meaning is clear, so I call it progress. In America, both methods are used for writing cents, which can lead to a lot of confusion. All too frequently, you’ll see something like a coupon for a Big Mac for “.99¢”, which would literally mean “A little less than one cent”, instead of “99¢” or “$.99”, which would be “A little less than a dollar” (which I presume was the intended meaning). So yeah, I’d agree that a uniform and consistent way of writing such quantities would be progress. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-euro-s/168302.md?page=1)