# What is €? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825 "2006-04-23T03:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/1 "2006-04-23T03:51:59Z")
Why would the makers of my laptop decide to devote a key to €? There are so many other useful symbols that I have to go to the trouble of pressing SHIFT, but I can get € with no other steps involved. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/2 "2006-04-23T03:54:22Z")
That’s the Euro symbol. I’m not sure why your keyboard would have a Euro sign instead of a $, unless you bought it from a manufacturer in the Euro zone. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/3 "2006-04-23T04:00:14Z")
Euro? Makes a hell of a lot of sense, given that the key on the other side of the up arrow key is the $ key. Now I need to figure out why I have an ALT GR key on one side of my space bar when the key on the other side is good ol’ ALT. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_O\_Malley\_s\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Mrs\_O\_Malley\_s\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_O_Malley_s_Cow)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/4 "2006-04-23T05:50:28Z")
For some reason I thought it was Sigma. Opppppssssss So where is that symbol located on the keyboard? Where my $ is? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/5 "2006-04-23T06:22:43Z")
**Mrs O’Malley’s Cow** You _could_ try using ALT 0128 to get the Euro currency symbol € I said “could” because sometimes those characters display properly on some machines and other times they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/6 "2006-04-23T06:23:08Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > Euro? Makes a hell of a lot of sense, given that the key on the other side of the up arrow key is the $ key. > > Now I need to figure out why I have an ALT GR key on one side of my space bar when the key on the other side is good ol’ ALT. Now you got me wondering, so I went looking. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt\_Gr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_Gr). ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/7 "2006-04-23T12:05:20Z")
Alt Gr + 4 does it on European keyboards. (Does Alt Gr actually do anything else??) ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/8 "2006-04-23T12:11:15Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > Alt Gr + 4 does it on European keyboards. (Does Alt Gr actually do anything else??) On my french keyboard, it gives access to all the third symbol on the first row of keys. That would be : ~#{[|`^@]}¤ . I couldn’t even type an e-mail adress without it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/9 "2006-04-23T12:11:22Z")
Nitpick: “euro” is not capitalised. (And bizarrely, the plural of “euro” is “euro”, and the plural of the euro “cent” is “cent”). ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/10 "2006-04-23T12:13:18Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > Alt Gr + 4 does it on European keyboards. (Does Alt Gr actually do anything else??) Happy! I had a recent keyboard crisis and am using an old one that doesn’t have € but now I know how to do it. Thanks, people. 🙂 Not that I NEED the € bu tmight as well know how to do it. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/11 "2006-04-23T12:25:33Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Nitpick: “euro” is not capitalised. (And bizarrely, the plural of “euro” is “euro”, and the plural of the euro “cent” is “cent”). > [@](#): > > Because the s-less plurals had become “enshrined” in EU legislation, the Commission decided to retain those plurals in English in legislation even while allowing natural plurals in other languages, but the Directorate-General for Translation strongly recommends that in all material generated by the Commission intended for the general public, the “natural plurals” of each language be used. > > As the euro was being adopted in the Republic of Ireland, however, the Department for Finance decided to use the word euro as both the singular and plural forms of the currency, and because Irish broadcasters took their cue from the Department, the “legislative plurals” tend to also be used on the news and in much Irish advertising. This has the effect of reinforcing the s-less plurals, though many advertisers (particularly those in the United Kingdom) prefer the plurals: euros and cents. > **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=linguistic-issues-concerning-the-euro)** > > Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/12 "2006-04-23T12:27:40Z")
Nice one, **GM**. Didn’t realise it was peculiar to Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/13 "2006-04-23T14:06:01Z")
I recently bought a new keyboard “PCSTUFF” by RCA. It has a Euro symbol on the number 5 key along with the percent key. The 5 key looks something like this: % 5 € But, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get that key to display the euro symbol. Any help out there? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/14 "2006-04-23T14:10:58Z")
Try: Alt-GR + 5 Alt + ctrl + 5 If these don’t work, try the same but with 4 (the system may be set up to recognise a different keyboard layout) ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/15 "2006-04-23T14:23:50Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Nice one, **GM**. Didn’t realise it was peculiar to Ireland. Well, originally, it was supposed to apply in every country, but since prety much everybody ignored this rule… ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/16 "2006-04-23T15:47:00Z")
And in in " American" keyboard layouts, you can soft-select layouts that will endow the right and left ALT key with slightly different effects, depending on the selected layout. Right now, my system is set to “Language = English(US)” and “Keyboard Layout = US(International)”. I get: (L)ALT+4 = beep (R)ALT+4 = ¤ (list bullet) (L)ALT+= beep (R)ALT+ = £ ( pound sterling) (L)ALT+e = open the “edit” menu (R)ALT+e = é (L)ALT+5 = beep (R)ALT+5 = € … and so forth > [@clairobscur](#): > > Well, originally, it was supposed to apply in every country, but since prety much everybody ignored this rule… And fine and well they did, I mean, since when so central banks legislate grammar… at least in Spanish (Castillian), referring to _“diez millones de euro”_ **sounds** ungrammatical (and saying _“cincuenta cent”_ sounds like you’re not speaking Castillian to begin with). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/17 "2006-04-23T15:48:16Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Well, originally, it was supposed to apply in every country, but since prety much everybody ignored this rule… Don’t tell me: the French workers had a general strike about it? 😉 (Do you say “centimes” too for “cents”?) ---
**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:** [April 23, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/18 "2006-04-23T16:59:36Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > (and saying _“cincuenta cent”_ sounds like you’re not speaking Castillian to begin with). ¿Tal vez es el idioma castellano ebónico? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/19 "2006-04-23T17:17:15Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Nitpick: “euro” is not capitalised. (And bizarrely, the plural of “euro” is “euro”, and the plural of the euro “cent” is “cent”). For some reason, it doesn’t sound peculiar to my ears at all. After all, isn’t the English plural for many currencies the same as the singular, or have I been misusing and mishearing it all these years? (_e.g._ 1 lira, 10,000 lira; 1 kuna, 50 kuna; 1 dinar, 5 dinar). Then again, I guess I always pluralized marks, francs, and pesetas. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825/20 "2006-04-23T18:55:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > For some reason, it doesn’t sound peculiar to my ears at all. After all, isn’t the English plural for many currencies the same as the singular, or have I been misusing and mishearing it all these years? (_e.g._ 1 lira, 10,000 lira; 1 kuna, 50 kuna; 1 dinar, 5 dinar). Then again, I guess I always pluralized marks, francs, and pesetas. When English borrows a noun from another language, it often tends to borrow along the plural form (or approximate something that _sounds_ like it) from the source language. Also, remember that in English, when you render the common noun into a composite adjectival/adverbial form, you do not use the plural: “The six-million-dollar Man”; “ten-cent store”; “four-wheel drive”; “four-man bobsled”; BUT, “It cost six million dollars to fix him”, “that’ll be ten cents”, “it powers all four wheels”, “there’s four men in the crew”. So English is more flexible about this “sounding right”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is/353825.md?page=2)