Britain's Money Had The Dumbest Names

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[@NameExplain]

Suggest a topic for next Monday's video!

[@Illumisepoolist]

Types of Shoes or maybe words without vowels?

[@beepboop204]

CANADIANISMS

[@geckoman1011]

All the variations of the name "John" over the various languages might be a fun video.

[@BarryFrancis]

@@geckoman1011 I vaguely remember a cartoon series where in the intro the main character would sing about where in one place he is called Yohan and in another he is called John, basically giving the variations of the name John. Though I can’t remember the actual name of the show. Edit: Just to add I googled the show I was thinking of and it was called Storybook International, though only the intro was animated the main part of the show was live action. I thought it was all animated because I was also getting it mixed up with a show called Johan and Peewit that was set in the Smurfs universe.

[@eleazarpyscher8569]

How should "Worchestershire" sauce be pronounced and why is it that way?

[@emmadelieu]

You missed out Guinea. (A pound plus a shilling.) We still use Guinea’s even today, most usually in horse racing.

[@frogandspanner]

When I was a lad luxury goods were priced in guineas. Mam always aspired to buy something in such units.

[@frostychocolatemilkshakes2944]

@@frogandspanner I'm from the US, but I get the impression (from the few Dickens novels I've read) that having a stockpile of guineas, and paying for services in guineas, was seen as a status symbol for old money gentry.

[@user-qe4dw8dy9i]

I believe that auction bids were in guineas and was once told that historically the extra shilling was the auctioneer's commission but that could be a furphy.

[@user-qe4dw8dy9i]

@@frostychocolatemilkshakes2944there was also a coin called a Sovereign. Made of gold, it was worth 20 Shillings (1 Pound).

[@AaronOfMpls]

Go back to the 1700s, and there were actual one-guinea coins too. From what I've read, they started out as a gold pound (the Pound Sterling was traditionally silver). But later, gold and silver shifted in value relative to each other, so the coins ended up worth £1 1s by the time they were withdrawn. The gold sovereign (which @user-qe4dw8dy9i mentioned) was the later replacement, but the guinea lived on as a unit for pricing luxury goods.

[@brun4775]

The pound didn’t change during decimalisation. It was just divided differently. Also the shilling didn’t disappear, it was just renamed to 5p. The old shilling coins continued to be used until the newer small 5p coin was introduced in the early 90s.

[@AaronOfMpls]

Yup, and 5p coins were made the same size and weight as the old shillings too, until that '90s resizing.

[@janpki75]

@@AaronOfMpls The old one shilling coins also were the same size and weight as one German Mark and hence were of great use in some of the old German vending machines at the time.

[@johnburnside7828]

"Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat. Won't you please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do. If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you." Also "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag... tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag..."

[@JeeWeeD]

Yeah, the tuppence I missed too

[@sdspivey]

Penny comes from Old High German "pfenning" As far I can tell, the pound stayed the same in 1971. It was the penny that changed in value. £1 = 100 new pennies = 240 old pennies.

[@arthur_p_dent]

It does come from Old High German, but where the Old German word cames from further down the road is uncertain. One possibility is that it is an early descendant of latin "pondus" = weight. If that is true, it would be a doublet of the word "pound".

[@nealjroberts4050]

Not quite. Both the Old H German and Old English _penning_ are from the same root West Germanic _panning_

[@arthur_p_dent]

@@nealjroberts4050 you're right - not Old German, but in fact common West Germanic origin. And where the West Germanic word comes from is uncertain.

[@misterbosscrow267]

German pennies were also called "Pfennig" untill 2002

[@Tsass0]

You missed the Half Crown. The florin was an attempt towards decimalisation in 1849, but that didn't progress any further.

[@VideoGraham]

My memory is the half crown (worth two and sixpence) was quite an important coin back in the 1960's or thereabouts. Maybe even more often seen than the florin or two bob bit. It was very unusual to encounter an actual crown, I think they were only minted occasionally for commemorative purposes (maybe they still are?)

[@JamesDavy2009]

@@VideoGraham I wonder if the half crown took inspiration from the Spanish reale. Spanish dollar was the international standard of that time and those coins were literally able to be split into eight pieces, hence the term "pieces of eight". It's the reason why Yanks have the quarter dollar as a denomination, which they also call "two bits".

[@ZachariahJ]

Half Crowns were huge! Really weighed your pocket down.

[@john_g_harris]

​@ZachariahJ Half crowns were heavy but bought you things. I've still got paperback books from the 1960s priced at 2/6 (half crown).

[@ZachariahJ]

@@john_g_harris Absolutely. In fact 2/6 was a very common price mark. And didn't some product Clean a Big, Big Carpet, for Less than Half a Crown?

[@DrWhoFanJ]

The pronunciation for "halfpenny" has three silent letters: the L and F of "half", but the E from "penny" also (mostly) disappears to become a schwa, resulting in it sounding more like "hape knee" (/ˈheɪpəni/).

[@user-qe4dw8dy9i]

Here in Australia it was often pronounced more like hate knee.

[@PopeLando]

"hape knee" was right, but you put an "uh" sound back in. It's not a schwa, the e is just silent. heip-ni

[@DrWhoFanJ]

@@PopeLando I was torn or whether I should include the schwa. There is definitely a sound between the P and the N in some pronunciations, but none in others. The Wiktionary-listed IPA does include one, though I struggle identifying such a sound present there when I say it myself.

[@nightwishlover8913]

Absolutely right - that's what I used to call it.

[@csmatthew]

Maybe it’s regional to Lancashire, but I know it as “a’pe’th” ([h]a[lf] pe[nny] [wor]th) And there is the derogatory term ‘apeth’ referring to someone that is not too bright. Ex: ‘don’t be a daft apeth’

[@spddiesel]

I seem to remember as a kid (in the States) learning a song in school that ended "if you no penny, a ha'penny will do. If you no ha'penny, then God bless you." Can't remember a damn thing else about that song, but always wondered what the hell a ha'penny was 😂

[@qirex3093]

“God bless you, gentlemen. God bless you.” - it’s from a Christmas is Coming en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Is_Coming

[@spddiesel]

@@qirex3093 that's it, thanks. Hadn't thought of that little rhyme in probably 40 years lol

[@BrightonandHoveActually]

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat Please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do If you haven't got a h'penny then God bless you.

[@misspat7555]

@@BrightonandHoveActuallyYes; my (very American; my whole family has been over here forever; not literally, but at least since the beginning of the 20th century) mother used to sing this song to me! 😊

[@meowtherainbowx4163]

They used to have halfpennies over here, too!

[@lp-xl9ld]

Frankly, "testoon" sounds like a dirtier word than "groat"

[@brianedwards7142]

They both sound like the names of Dickens characters.

[@MySteviec]

He didn't mention the name but thrupenny bits sounds positively disgusting

[@pennywaldrip3774]

As a person named Penny, thank you for not suggesting the US stop using the penny.

[@bruhz_089]

The US is using you?

[@Liethen]

You could always change your name to Nichole

[@raakone]

The USA is a land of inertia when it comes to money, they still use one dollar notes (most dollar countries have 1 dollar coins...ok, the USA also has them, but they aren't as widely used), and no way would the USA copy Canada and Australia in axing the penny.

[@KB-qh2jt]

Hey Penny, the United States does not have a penny coin, the United States has a 1 cent coin.

[@raakone]

@@KB-qh2jt but it’s commonly called a penny

[@SewolHoONCE]

Two encounters with the old money: 1. 1964: On the way to Germany for study year abroad, we spent a few days in London, then returned in 1965 for Churchill’s funeral. 2. ¿1981? Working as a piano technician, I had the task of cleaning an old, “birdcage,” piano; while removing the keys, I came into possession of an Edward VII silver thruppence.

[@Nedlop1]

While cleaning someone’s house once I came into possession of 3 gold necklaces and a watch

[@martinwallace5734]

In Australia we called the threepence a "trey" or "tray" (from latin "tres" = "3", via the Old French "trei" and various English dialects from there), sixpence was a "zac" (probably from Scottish "saxpence"), a shilling was a "bob", as in England, and a pound was a "quid". Some of these words still remain in popular expressions (though they are probably only used by older people nowadays) such as "Not worth a zac", "as mad as a two-bob watch", "I wouldn't do it for quids." The threepence coin was also called a "thrupenny bit"; it, or occasionally sixpences, were hidden in Christmas puddings for a lucky person to find. The two shilling coin had the word "florin" in its design, but that was regarded as very formal and I never really heard people use it in conversation; we said"two shillings" or "two bob". £1/1/- was a "guinea". It tended to be used in designating the price of expensive things, like real property and race horses, but sometimes also for salaries. The origin of "quid" is not certain, but it may be from Latin "quid pro quo", i.e. "something for something", or "that which is used for exchange." The "pound" is known as a "pound sterling" because its worth was originally set as that of a pound of Sterling silver. It's also worth mentioning the origin of the symbols used for pounds, shillings and pence: £ s d.. The pound sign is a crossed "L", £, standing for the Latin "libra" which meant a pound (in weight); the "s" for shilling is obvious, but the "d" for a penny was from Latin "denarius", a basic Roman coin said to be worth a day's wages for a labourer in ancient times.

[@AaronOfMpls]

Actually, the s was from "solidus", the equivalent unit in Latin. Nice that it started with the same letter, though. 🙂

[@martinwallace5734]

@@AaronOfMpls Ah, thanks for that. According to Wiki, the shilling was the Germanic name for the solidus, so it all makes sense.

[@sternentigerkatze]

I've come upon the word quid quite a few times (only in reading though, as I'm not living in an english speaking country) and was told it's a colloquial expression for pound as "bucks" seems to be for us dollars

[@martinwallace5734]

@@sternentigerkatze Yes, that's right.

[@Chewiebakke]

Unrelated to video topic but interesting nonetheless, the symbol for a pound in weight, lb, also comes from 'libra'.

[@wilfredmorin722]

Born 81 years ago, I was around when the above were current currency.

[@nightwishlover8913]

71 for me - don't remember the farthing, but all the others were common, as you know.

[@UrskogTrolle]

I have to ask, what were your initial reactions when you heard about the decimalisation? Because from I can tell people were overwhelmingly indifferent but I'd love to know from someone who was there.

[@nightwishlover8913]

@@UrskogTrolle I knew we were going to get ripped off by rounding errors, but not as much as we actually were - it was an easy excuse to put prices way up...

[@UrskogTrolle]

@@nightwishlover8913 Yikes. I didn't realise it was that bad but I guess that's what happens whenever a country changes currency. Which is kind of what happened, in a matter of speaking anyway. Would you have kept things the way they were even to this day if it were up to you or would you have changed it anyway? I'm just really curious because not only is this long before I was even born, my dad was only 7 at the time and my mum was 1. Plus we're from Sweden we have used a decimal system since the 1850's so this is honestly very exciting to me 😅 And I'm sorry if I type too much but as I said, this really is exciting to me.

[@nightwishlover8913]

@@UrskogTrolle It was going to change anyway, so...a bit like when your country changed which side of the road to drive on, even though that was even more before your time, in 1967. That must have been awful...

[@MeteorMark]

Hearing: Penny... Penny... Penny... in Dr. Sheldon Cooper's voice... 😂

[@MrChristopher586]

Dumb? No. Quaint/Lovable/Obsolete/Adorable? Yes.

[@Lily_The_Pink972]

I feel quite offended by the word dumb. It certainly doesn't deserve that description.

[@marcduhamel-guitar1985]

In Canada, our 1 dollar coins have the image of a loon, and is nicknamed a loonie. A few years later, they introduced a 2 dollar coin with an image of a polar bear. The popular nickname for that one is- the toonie.

[@ehowiehowie7850]

I went to canada & they had "lockers for loonies" in swimming baths 7:33 (loonies/a loonie means a mad person in uk) ...gave me a laugh

[@marcduhamel-guitar1985]

@@ehowiehowie7850 yeah, I like how the nickname for the 2$ coin pairs with the one for the 1$- the loonie and the toonie 😉

[@88porpoise]

​@@ehowiehowie7850that is not accidental. People were rather miffed when Prime Minister Brian Mulroney pushed the dollar coin to replace the dollar bill. People definitely viewed it as lunacy, and connect the loon with "looney" for a crazy person rhyming with Mulroney.

[@88porpoise]

​@@marcduhamel-guitar1985There was an (unofficial) debate over what would be the nickname of the two dollar coin before it came out, but the people instantly went with toonie. It also has the fun correlation with the Looney Toons.

[@marcduhamel-guitar1985]

@@88porpoise yeah, I like the playfulness of the nicknames and how they complement one another.

[@brooksrownd2275]

Not "dumb" at all - they're traditional, interesting and cool

[@rmar127]

Given that the value of the pound was anchored to the value of silver for centuries, That would mean that today a pound would be worth AUD$611.12, a shilling AUD$30.55, a penny AUD$2.54 and finally a farthing would be worth AUD$0.64

[@JamesDavy2009]

Had we used that standard, we'd have maintained the quarter-farthing until decimalisation.

[@whophd]

Haha good for the currency, bad for the country

[@robinharwood5044]

The other day I turned off a light and said “let’s save three ha’porth of electricity “. My son looked baffled.

[@cinemaipswich4636]

Have we forgotten One Pound + One Shilling? The GUINEA was generally used in auction houses, where the shilling was paid to the auctioneer.

[@GenialHarryGrout]

There are the classic horse races 1000 Guineas and 2000 Guineas

[@doomsdayrabbit4398]

We only call ours the penny colliquially because it's small and copper. Legally it's always been the cent. One tenth of a dime. One hundredth of a dollar. One thousandth of an eagle. Ten mills.

[@pjl22222]

One ten thousandth of a union

[@doomsdayrabbit4398]

@@pjl22222 I like you.

[@shaleenthepunk8568]

I got two rolls of quarters from the (mental) hospital I was in a month and a half ago in the US to go home with. One of the quarters was a Bicentennial one that they released for the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1976, so I separated it from the rest as a good luck charm. In any case, I think coins are interesting, especially historical ones.

[@peabody1976]

Britain had so many half and quarters of "small" denominations because the buying power of the "pound sterling" (silver) or "sovereign" (gold) went much further. Think of it as the reverse of many currencies that don't use a penny or small denomination because the set rate of currency is worth "less" (subjectively), e.g., the Japanese yen used to issue the sen as part of its currency (1/100 of a yen), but because of how buying power is set, there is no need for a sen in the modern age. As Britain approached [1971], it no longer needed either the small denominations, but the base-12 issue made computations annoying. So, decimalisation!

[@JamesDavy2009]

It would've been a headache for me if I had to juggle three different radices in a tiered currency.

[@DesertRoamerUK]

Shillings are still used in East Africa (Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya) and bob used as slang but only in Kenya, only when speaking English numbers, and only for coins and notes up to 500/-, Five bob, ten bob, twenty bob, etc.

[@samwill7259]

There are still part of America that use "Hay Penny" to mean something worthless, like you'd use the phrase "Wooden Nickel". ...the US Half Penny has not existed in 167 years. Because sometimes slang changes in a generation and sometimes people say stuff with meaning that would have been alien to their great grandparents and we DO NOT get to pick which

[@DadgeCity]

The funnest thing about coin names is the story about "simon" being a synonym for "tanner" because of the Bible.

[@Marketingmagician]

Theres nothing dumb about the names!

[@TheEulerID]

Quite. Those old names were colourful, spoke of history and were an important part of the social history of the country. I was 15 on decimal day, and one thing many people mourned was those friendly and familiar old names. In contrast, what we have now are colourless and anodyne coin names which simply reflect their value. A step backwards in terms of society I feel. If the Americans can have pennies, nickel, dimes and quarters, without them considered to be dumb, I do not know why historically and social important pre-decimal coin names should be considered "dumb".

[@mtndudesf]

He means "cute" when he says "dumb", that what I get from the video. Not looking down on these names at all, but talking about them in a fun and loving way.

[@TheEulerID]

@@mtndudesf "dumb" does not mean "cute". Try looking up the meaning of the words in a dictionary. Also take note of all the other people that have raised the same point.

[@mtndudesf]

@@TheEulerID Try reading between the lines, it's an important skill

[@TheEulerID]

@@mtndudesf I find not making up crap to suit an argument is a much more important skill. Making an entirely fallacious statement about "dumb" meaning "cute" is just excusing what was obviously click-bait. The historical and social background behind the naming of what was an important part of the culture of people is intensely interesting, and it doesn't warrant being abused in such an obvious way. Those coin names were not "dumb" and, almost as bad, not "cute" either (what do you normally watch - KZbin cat videos?). Instead, it tells an important history. The naming of coins is deep in culture. It's embedded deeply into British history, it forms an important part of idiomatic English and culture. It can be found in Chaucer, in Shakespeare, in music and poetry, in the common language of people. Yet you just think it's "cute". That is most definitely dumb and facile. It is vastly more interesting and complex than that. So it's either a deliberately manipulative use of the word "dumb" to get views or the narrator actually thinks those names are dumb. There is evidence of that in that he claims to be "shocked" that such words a "farthing" and and "thrupence" were in common use a few decades before he was born. Really? Shocked? I'll leave aside the groat as that was most certainly not in common use at that time. Then there was the error in claiming that the pound that emerged in 1971 was new. It was not. The subdivisions and the coinage, at least in part changed, but the Pound Sterling was just the same.

[@auldfouter8661]

The multi sided three pence coin was called a thrupenny bit and replaced a very small silver three penny coin. The original pound coin was gold and called a sovereign. we found a few in a little metal container that a man would have carried in his pocket- probably belonging to my great grandfather who lived from 1828 to 1893. Pedigree livestock were sold in guineas , a guinea being 21 shillings and the auctioneer who put on the sale in his market premises and advertised it ,kept the shilling as commission- roughly 5%. When you buy an animal for 2,000 gns you have to pay £2,100 for it.

[@nightwishlover8913]

Pronunciation varied between "Thrupny" and "Threpny" bit...

[@christopherbentley7289]

It was a little bit of a slip-up, Patrick, when you used a New Penny piece as a comparison unit in the graphics on the Half Penny and Farthing, implying that they were respectively ½ and ¼ of a New Penny, whereas, of course, that would be of an (Old) Penny. Also, in mentioning the Crown perhaps there should have been a reference to the Half Crown piece of 2 ½ Shillings. Otherwise, this was a pretty good video. In the late 1960s a night club opened in my home city of Derby called The New Penny in honour of the then forthcoming decimalisation. One of the DJs there was Trevor East, who would later go on to national fame in connection with the children's TV show, 'Tiswas'. His colleague, Roger Smith, with whom he subsequently opened the Shotgun Disco at The Friary Hotel in Derby, is the bass player and spokesperson of the band I follow as their resident dancer and 'Fifth Beatle', Godfrey's Grit 'n' Soul Band.

[@tygrkhat4087]

I thought of the Half Crown from "A Christmas Carol," when Scrooge gets the boy to buy the prize turkey from the butcher and promises him a Half Crown.

[@just_passing_through]

They are no dumber than “dime”, or “nickel”, or “bit”.

[@flamencoprof]

Here in New Zealand we still had halfpennies and threepennies when I was a child in the 1950s. We called them "hape-nee" and "thruppence". Also, two pennies as a price, not a coin, was called "tuppence". There were florins, and, not mentioned in the vid, the half crown we called "half a crown". Crowns were not in circulation, but my father had an old one in his dresser drawer. There was a yearly fundraiser by The Boy Scouts called "Bob-a-Job", where they would go from door to door offering to do small tasks for payment of one shilling. A one-pound note was commonly called "a quid", and five and ten-pound notes were called "a fiver" and "a tenner'.

[@JohnWilson-hc5wq]

The 1 1/2 pence coin was made for use in the Caribbean. Many people were too poor to donate 3 pence (the smallest silver coin) to church on Sunday, and they felt it was disrespectful to donate copper coins.

[@martinbruhn5274]

penny sounds a lot like the german "pfennig"

[@BrightonandHoveActually]

They are the same root. The German word pfund also means pound (and is sometimes used to mean 500 grammes (roughly 1 lb in weight).

[@JamesDavy2009]

Yet another Norman influence on the Poms' lexicon.

[@auldfouter8661]

I think ha'penny was more often rendered as hape'ny from my recollection. Also something costing a penny hape'ny might be said to cost three ha'pence. Also because a pound was for a long time worth 4 dollars and the crown coin was 5 /- or five shillings , a half crown was called half a dollar.

[@HTJB60]

I was a teenager when it was refered as that. I'm 75 now.

[@sandramarieroberts1172]

We don’t have Pennies anymore in Canada. They were phased out due to inflation a few years ago. Everything is either round up or down in price to compensate. We do have loonies and toonies though for our dollar coins. We still have dimes and nickels like our southern neighbours. Although post pandemic, people tend not to carry cash, since we were encouraged to pay contactlessly, so this all seems even more quaint. I can’t remember the last time that I even held a coin.

[@whophd]

Australia (aka Hot Canada): same, just without the loonie tunes

[@stevensines7026]

I love you videos. Learning new things has always been a favorite of mine and you have some of the most interesting and unique videos. Thank you, Patrick.

[@MrFlint51]

I have in my collection an original Florin. It is marked "One Florin, one tenth of a pound". It is slightly smaller than the later two shilling coin, and the year is in Roman numerals

[@nmbilq]

In 2024 we still refer to 10p as a 2 Bob bit and 50p as ten Bob. £1.50 is often called 30 Bob

[@tysonessenmacher2091]

That's a great connection between "bob" and Walpole. The recoinage of the 1970's only affected the fractions of the unit, with the pound coins and banknotes remaining unchanged. Many of the old coins continued to circulate in to the 1990's but given new values, such as the shilling now equaling five of the new pence.

[@davecass485]

I recall having Schilling (5p) and 2 Schilling (10p) coins when visiting relatives in the 90's.

[@NBK1122]

Groats are the hulled kernels of various cereal grains, such as oat, wheat, rye, and barley.

[@MySteviec]

Fun fact: As one shilling equalled 5 new pence the new 5p coin was made exactly the same size and from the same silver as the old shilling. The same was true for the florrin and new 10p coin. As such both the shilling and florrin were still legal tender and fairly common right up until they changed the 5p and 10p coins in the early 1990s and were the last pre decimalisation coins to be withdrawn two decades after the rest

[@Thenogomogo-zo3un]

Yep. and I still miss the old pound note. withdrawn in 1983 and replaced with the ghastly coin. The US still has one dollar bills which are worth less than a pound. What's up with the Bank of England? stopped producing them because they wore out too fast was the excuse. I can see the fiver going that way too. I still have a ten shilling note somewhere.

[@farmerjohn6192]

The sixpence was half the size of the shilling/5p and legal tender up to 1984. It withdrawn only because the new 1/2 pence was withdrawn. Same value as 2 1/2 new pence.

[@Lord_Skeptic]

​@@farmerjohn6192Actually the sixpence stopped being legal tender in 1980. The new ½ penny coin stopped being legal tender in 1984.

[@nightwishlover8913]

The sixpence (tanner) otherwise known as Brian May (Queen) 's guitar pick. Just as an fyi: I remember buying for my tea: "a sixpenny fish and four pennorth of chips" Translation: fourpence-worth of chips - so you could buy fish and chips for less than a shilling (5p)! Those were the days!!

[@dcarbs2979]

Strange, as Queen didn't come to fame until 3 years after decimalisation.

[@nightwishlover8913]

@@dcarbs2979 1.Sixpences were still legal tender until 1980. 2. He has said he prefers a 1947 coin (the year he was born). 3. I personally do not know where he gets them from, but he does still use them. 4. You are correct when you say that Queen did not come to the public's attention until 1974, with the release of Queen II

[@dcarbs2979]

@@nightwishlover8913 I bet he prefers 1947 coins! Not an insignificant date in coinage: it's the last year coins contained actual silver. Base metal from 1948 onwards.

[@francesca1963cd]

Great video,thank you.Being born in the 1960s, I do remember some of the old coins.Certainly I remember the change over in 1971! One memory I do.have lost 1971, is my grandparents converting all prices back into pounds,shillings & pence !!!!

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

When I was a child in London, my allowance was a half crown a week. The farthing had been fazed out already as had the florin. Guineas were still used at posh shops like the ones on Savile Row or Bond Street for example.

[@Escapee5931]

As I remember it, the florin was still being used beyond decimalisation. The new 10p coin was made the same size as the florin because they both represented a tenth of a pound.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

@@Escapee5931 My apologies, the coin may have remained -- we left the UK before decimalization happened -- but the name wasn't being used among the people we knew. Shillings, half crowns, crowns, pennies, thruppence, and ha'pennies still showed up in our change, so I don't doubt we got florin coins, too. We just didn't call them that.

[@ttuny1412]

Every Christmas season, I watch, Scrooge, the 1951 version with Alastair Sim. Some of the denomination are thrown around such as the Guinea, which he gives his housekeeper, and the half a Crown, he rewards to the boy to bring the prize turkey from the butcher. I never knew what they were worth compared to the pound.

[@chriswade7470]

I was born in 1959, so old pre decimal U.K. currency was taught in School. You forgot the Half crown which was 2 shillings and Sixpence.p 12.5 p in decimal currency. There was also the Guinea which was £1-00 and 1 shilling so 105 pence in Decimal currency.

[@cyberherbalist]

As an American I was in the UK when the currency was decimalized. I only had about 1 year's worth of experience with the pound/shilling/pence thing and had gotten used to it. So to me that 100 New Pence to the Pound felt really weird. During that year I had worked as a teenager in a British shop and had managed to figure out how to give change in the old currency. But I never saw a farthing or a halfpenny in actual commerce. By that time they had gone out of use. Funny thing was that when I was here then one British penny was equal to an American penny! So it was really easy to calculate exchanges. A pound was worth $2.40. These days, a pound is worth about $1.26. The pound has suffered some devaluation, I guess.

[@romad357]

Here in these United States we still hear the use of "two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar" as part of cheers for school sports games. Then there is the end of a song from 1899: "Shave and a haircut, two bits!" It was most likely taken from a barbershop advertisement. But what are "bits"? A bit is actually 12.5 cents/pennies so "2 bits" is 25 cents or a Quarter Dollar, 4 bits is 50 cents or a Half Dollar, and 6 bits is 75 cents and a Dollar has 8 bits. This comes from when the old Spanish silver Reale coins circulated in these United States back in the 18th & early 19 Century; this silver coin was also called a "Piece of Eight" as eight of them equaled a Spanish gold Reale. When these United States adopted its currency, the 2 bits term was used colloquially for the 25 cent coin and 4 bits for the 50 cent coin; because there wasn't a 12.5 coin, the odd numbered bit terms fell out of use. Interestingly the 6 bits term for 75 cents survived even though there isn't a coin.

[@vincent412l7]

1 new Pound is 100p (penny) , 1 old Pound was 240d (pence).

[@johnwalters1806]

That is exactly the wrong way around. Pennies were always called Pennies until 1971. Pence was introduced as a way of differentiating old pennies from new pence.

[@GenialHarryGrout]

There was a 10 Shilling note or 10 bob note as it was called. This was a pinkish coloured note that was fazed out in 1969 and replaced by the 50p coin in readiness for decimalisation. I am old enough to remember most old notes and coins

[@robinharwood5044]

So “fin” and “sawbuck” aren’t dumb? (What is a sawbuck?) And “two bits” for 25 cents? Was there ever one bit?

[@divarachelenvy]

We had the same system in Australia till 1966, I just remember using the coins.

[@miramavensub]

At $3000/month you should do a cider on all of the Counties, Boroughs, and Parishes in the US 🤪 On a more serious note: happy that I'm able to contribute what I can to a fellow online creative!

[@WDCallahan]

Most Americans do call it a penny. But legally, there is no American coin with that name. Officially, it is only called a cent.

[@usainengland]

Fun fact: on the residency exam asked what year decimalisation occurred. Just bonkers. And before people think I made a mistake, you must take this exam just to live here, not for citizenship! People that call it citizenship test are wrong. Even the BBC is wrong about this stupid test.

[@UKBamber]

Quarter farthings, third farthings and half farthings were mainly used in the Caribbean in the Victorian era. The three ha'pence was half a thruppence, so 1/8 of a shilling.

[@entwistlefromthewho]

I'm sure one of our politicians (post-Brexit, of course) has suggested overhauling our money and bringing back old coinage. £1 would still be 100p because not using decimal would be too complicated with modern banking, but we would no longer have the 50p, instead we would have 20p coins renamed "shilling" and have 4 per £1, a "half shilling" (10p) and a quarter shilling (5p). The "coppers" (1p, 2p) would go too. There was also a suggestion that there would be a 5 shilling note or coin because the price £1.20 would become more common as well and it would be named Guinea which I think used to be £1 and 1 shilling. There would also be a return to old written forms like 3/- for 3 shillings (60p) and £5/2/- for £5.40 or £5/2/5 for £5.45. I can't see any of this coming true though.

[@danadnauseam]

I am reminded of Mean Mr. Mustard with the five bob note up his nose

[@tysonessenmacher2091]

The most likely origin of the word "penny" is the German word "pfennig", similar to shilling it is going to be the sound made by a small piece of silver being cut from a bar with a chisel and hammer.

[@blueptconvertible]

Groat does sound like it could be rude. In the US, especially southern California, in the 1980s, there was a slang term, "grody to the max." (which I grew up hearing) That meant something was exceptionally dirty, gross or vile. For a good example, look up Moon Unit Zappa's song "Valley Girl."

[@jeanbellabasura1539]

does the "penny" come from the pre- Euro german Pfenig? and the "Shilling" from the german Schiling?

[@arthur_p_dent]

Penny didn't derive von Pfennig or vice versa, but both had a shared West Germanic origin. Same with the Schilling/Shilling.

[@varbalvarbal]

The name of the Hungarian forint also comes from florin, actually by way of its latin name, florentinus.

[@MrFlint51]

The pre-Euro coinage in Austria was the Schilling

[@csmatthew]

Florins were the last pre-decimal coin to be withdrawn from circulation. Being valued at 1/10th of a £, it was replaced in form and specie as the New Ten Pence coin. It is a leftover of earlier attempts to decimalise from the 19th century

[@Rationalific]

A troy pound of sterling silver currently costs £238.76. So that means that if money were defined the way that it should be and hadn't been debased over the years, a shilling (1/20 of a pound sterling) would be around £12. A penny would be £1. And a farthing would be £0.25.

[@EnigmaticLucas]

One thing I find weird is the guinea, which was worth £1 1s. Even after the actual guinea coin stopped being made, luxury/posh things were still priced in terms of guineas.

[@stalfithrildi5366]

Luxury goods usually carried a 5% sales tax, so 500 guineas was the price of £500 plus the sales tax

[@colinprice712]

And the Guinea still carries on in horse racing - eg “the 5000 Guinea race” and auctions for racing horses…

[@morat242]

The guinea originally varied from 20-30s (£1-1.5). That's because the pound was a silver-backed currency, once a pound weight of silver pennies, but the guinea was gold. So, the relative value of the metals changed over time until it was fixed at 21s, and then replaced by the £1 gold sovereign.

[@brianedwards7142]

What about the other names for money like a monkey or a pony or "fifty bleedin' nicker?" Britain's gift to Australia seems to have been mostly in the form of Syd James and Jimmy Carr.

[@vincent412l7]

In the US we have the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter (1c, 5c, 10c, 25c). We sometimes call the dollar a buck, Canada uses looney and twooney for $1 $2.

[@UrskogTrolle]

You forgot at least two coins. The tuppence (two pence which was apparently only minted in 1797 according to Wikipedia) and the half crown. Other than that, great video as always.

[@mathewritchie]

I have always felt that most pomms are incapable of talking English.

[@HalfEye79]

In Germany, the currency, we had before the Euro was called D-Mark or "Deutsche Mark" (with "deutsch§ means "german") with its smaller version of Pfennig (100 Pfennig = 1 D-Mark). The 10 Pfennig-coin was often called a Groschen. I think it derived from an older german currency. I later learned that the 5 D-Mark-coin was often called "Heiermann". But I don't know the reason or etymology of this. When there was more, I can't remember. There even was an ancient german currency named Taler. I think that was in medieval times.

[@cindygreenwald1202]

From whence comes our word dollar.

[@poil8351]

There was also the reich mark

[@HalfEye79]

@@poil8351 Yes, Reichsmark, Goldmark and, when I'm correct, Rentenmark where currencies in german history.

[@alphabetaomega265]

Why is so much british slang coming from the names of specific individuals? In this video there were quite some already and then there are more such as: Boycott comes from Lord Boycott 200 years ago Bobs your uncle from Robert Salisbury Wellies from the Duke of Wellington And there are many more, that I cant remember rn

[@felipeitoanuatti]

Funny coincidence between old UK and Brazil. Many of these currency names possibly refer to prime-ministers. At least since the Dilma Rousseff government, we’ve been informally referring to the Brazilian real by the president’s name. For instance, currently, you may say 10 Lulas instead of 10 reais.

[@brianedwards7142]

Penny makes me think of Inspector Gadget's niece, the poor kid.

[@whophd]

*presses buttons to make Computer Book sounds*

[@joshuarosen465]

There is a lot to be said for your old system. The pound had three prime divisors instead of two. You can't divide a dollar or a new pound by three but you could divide the old pound into thirds. BTW in the US a quarter is called two bits. There has never been a 1 bit US coin but the Spanish had pieces of eight, which is where we got the term from. Two pieces of eight became two bits which is is how the quarter got its nick name.

[@eminzide]

In Malay.... the word for coin is syiling which came from the shilling.....

[@Jan_Koopman]

In the Gulden age, these were (some of) the nicknames for the money: fl. 0.00625 = duit (~"leftover") fl. 0.01 = spie/spieker/spaander/spijker (~"insignificant little part" (×2) / splinter/nail) fl. 0.0125 = oortje/oordje ("a quarter of a nickel") fl. 0.025 = plak/plakker (disc ×2) fl. 0.05 = stuiver ("one that spouts[?]" [a nickel]) fl. 0.10 = dubbeltje/Bas/beissie/beessie/beestje/hondje (little double / Sebastian / little beast (×3) / little dog) fl. 0.25 = kwartje/heitje/heiterik/maffie (little quarter / "5 nickels" (×2) / "little sleep?") fl. 1 = piek/pegel/pegulant/piekelman/man met de stok/bal/soof/sjoof/voorwiel (lance (×2) / lancer (×2) / man with the stick / ball / "gold coin" (×2) / front wheel) fl. 1.50 = daalder/lammetje ([?]/"little Hebrew L") fl. 2.50 = achterwiel/knaak (hind wheel / "rank 5 coin") fl. 5 = Bas/beissie/fiets (Sebastian / little beast / bicicle) fl. 10 = joet[je]/juut[je]/sjoof/soof ("[lityle] tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet" (×2) / "gold coin" (×2)) fl. 25 = geeltje / gele rug/brief/flep/flap/flip ("little yellow one" / yellow back/letter / yellow flap (×3)) fl. 50 = sjoof/soof ("gold coin") fl. 100 = meier ("one hundred") fl. 1000 = rooie rug / rooie/rug/rooitje/krant (red back / red one / back / little red one / newspaper)

[@mikecawood]

I have a groat in my small coin collection (a groat is four old pence). It's actually an old Maundy coin.

[@skasteve6528]

The word penny comes from the similar French coin the denier. There were 12 deniers to the sou (which comes from the Roman solidus) & 20 sou to the libra which is where the £ sign comes from. The Florin comes from the Netherlands who had a coin of similar value. It is why the Dutch guilder was often symbolised by either f or fl. The British florin was part of an experiment with decimalisation that went no further.

[@JamesDavy2009]

That would explain why the Poms used a lowercase "D" to denote the penny symbol.

[@pedanticradiator1491]

Of course many people especially Americans think we still use the old money

[@kevanhubbard9673]

Don't remind Sir Jacob Rees Smog otherwise he might try to bring that old money back!

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

I remember counting up all the ha'pennies in my piggy bank to convert them before the coin was phased out. I also kept one just to have it as a memento, but as I was very young and the coin was small it unfortunately got lost at some point (or I just threw it away!). :(

[@andersonic]

I hoped the shilling "bob" might explain "Bob's your uncle", but alas that's a different more nepotistic Bob.

[@rmar127]

Thripence here in australia 🇦🇺

[@octavioquartio]

Penny most likely comes from denarius, the roman coin. It appeared as denier in Medieval French and p(f)ennig in the German states and penning in Scandinavia at the same time.

[@tysonl.taylor-gerstner1558]

In German there was also a penny, though it was/is actually written "Pfennig"

[@JohnWilson-hc5wq]

If only the pound retained its original meaning: one pound of silver, 92.5% pure.

[@Danogil]

Half-crown -2 shillings 6 pence, Double Florin, or Barmaid's Grief-4 shillings. £ s d it worked for over 1250+ years, Offa, King of Mercia introduced the Silver Penny to Britain. The rest is History.

[@PaulMDove2]

My argument after decimalisation, and still to this day, is if the American names for coins - nickel, dime, quarter - are not dumb then our names for coins are not dumb either and we should have kept them. Obviously the 5 and 10 pence coins should still be called shillings and florins, and instead of having a 20 pence coin we should have had a crown coin worth 25 pence.

[@kubhlaikhan2015]

I'm surprised you didn't explain the number system on which the currency was originally based. The object was to be able to divide up any quantity of money in order to share it equally between wage earners, business partners etc without having to cut the coins. As a result, most of the values (the number of pennies in a shilling, shillings in a pound etc) were determined geometrically. The same is true of the traditional quantities of commercial goods - hence the "dozen" and the "gross" and the number of ounces in a pound and so on. It was an extremely logical and practical system - especially back when the value of the coin was intrinsic - i.e. based upon the value of the metal itself. It was fluctuating metal prices that resulted in a few anomalies that don't fit the geometric system e.g. the value of the "guinea" actually varied wildly in its relative value due to the cost of the gold and was eventually fixed by statute at a pound and a shilling. It makes a lot more sense when you understand the purpose - it is the exact same reason we divide a circle into 360 degrees instead of 100 or a day into 24 hours, 60 minutes, 60 seconds and so on.

[@alangknowles]

You never saw a crown, but you did use the half crown (2/6).

[@HTJB60]

I've had Crown's. I'm 75.

[@Olafje]

I think it's such a shame that euro coins and ballots don't really have nicknames, or at least not that I know of

[@stephenlee5929]

Hi You missed the 2 shilling & 6 pence, it was a half crown, it out lasted the Crown in general circulation, this coin was sometimes known as a half dollar, as it had a value of about half a US Dollar. There was also a Ten Shilling Note/10 bob note. Given you were mentioning combinations of coins to make a shilling, you could have used 3 Groats.

[@richardsmith579]

I don’t remember anyone, ever, saying groat unless in a history lesson. As for the rest, well, it was sometimes confusing, but I remember using Victorian pennies dated to the 1890s as these were still in circulation. Decimalisation was a big improvement. I do, however, certainly know the correct pronunciation for the coins mentioned but I can understand why a young person might not.

[@davidmaxwaterman]

It wasn't "HAR-PENNY". It was "HAPE-KNEE".

[@RogerWKnight]

We Americans have C-Notes, Sawbucks, Benjamins, Bucks, Twenties, Tens, and Fives.

[@Thenogomogo-zo3un]

I love that stuff! now, if IIRC a 'Sawbuck' is a ten dollar bill?

[@RogerWKnight]

@@Thenogomogo-zo3un More American money names: 2 bits, smackers, greenbacks, grand, dimes. Dime is not just the name of the coin, but its value, labeled "ONE DIME". Half dime is commonly called a nickel, and labeled "FIVE CENTS". Nickel is the metal they're made of. The former silver coins, dime, quarter dollar, and half dollar, are now pieces of copper coated with nickel. Since we stopped minting silver dollars in the 1930's, we have tried minting dollar coins in more recent years. However such dollar coins add weight to the pocket and are about as popular a replacement of dollar notes as Celsius is a replacement for Fahrenheit in the weather reports. Federal Reserve Notes of $200, $500, and $1000 denominations could find a place in circulation with the current level of inflation, however, the federal government would rather not make money laundering and illegal drug trade easier with such larger value notes. We could continue to use William McKinley for the $500 note and Grover Cleveland for the $1000 or grand note. I would propose Martin Luther King, Jr. for a new $200 denomination. Double C-Notes could prove as common as Twenties if printed and placed into circulation.

[@rogerwitte]

I remember seeing farthings; my grand parents had some although they were no longer legal tender by then. Groats were already ancient history. But I do remember using money before 1972. When I was a teenager, we talked about ha'p'ney ... it was spelled ha'penny. I think ''three penny bt ', pronounced thrup'ney bit', was more common than 'thrupence' although both were used. My teacher iin 1970 played in a band called 'the three penny bit'. In 1971 we all had to talk about 'p' (pronounced pee) and 'd' (pronounced 'dee') because the word 'penny had become too ambiguous.

[@blueptconvertible]

I wish you would've shown the size of the coins as well. It's been 20 years since I've been to the UK but if I remember right some of the coins were way bigger than others, kind of like how in the US the dime is tiny compared to a 50c piece.

[@dcarbs2979]

The 'strange' divisibility made a lot of sense before computers. Everything was easily calculatable and divisible into fractions. The factors of 240d in £1 made it a very flexible system. Much like there are 3600 seconds in an hours today, so that they are easily divisible into minutes, seconds and small numbers. Inflation makes the system seem absurd these days, but £1 was an enormous amount of money before 1970 - the average wage just between £20 and £30 a week. In 1900, £1 a week was good pay! not something most people would encounter very often. If one existed, probably like seeing a £200 note today, considering that even £50s are fairly rare.

[@Thenogomogo-zo3un]

Yes, even measures in old imperial are divisible by 12 or so. like 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet, one yard etc. Yes the clock, 12 hours x2 one day 24 hours and stuff. 12 months in a year.