CENT vs PENNY.. What is the correct term?

Or 200 half pennies

 

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If I'm off on this, please correct me.

 

Many feel that since the coin has the words "One Cent" on the back that it should be called a Cent. However, the American coin with Jefferson on the front and Monticello on the reverse has the words "Five Cents" on the back but we call it a Nickel instead of a Five Cent. There's no logical reason to designate a coin by its value instead of its commonly used designation, thus we have Penny, Nickel, Dime, Quarter (sometimes with Dollar added) and Half (Usually with Dollar added).

 

The British pound was not divided into 100 cents like our dollar, but its smallest part was called a penny, and that's why we call our cent a "penny" today. But for more than one, the British called them "pence" while ours are called "pennies."

The British penny was a popular currency in the US untill 1857 when it was demonetized by law in the US.

 

Hey! You like mah new gold toof?

 

Both. Just about everyone I've met calls them pennies. Ever since we declared independence this country has been using the term penny, even if it originated in UK a long time ago, it was carried here before we minted coins.

And look at it this way. Have you heard anyone tell you "look at this CENT I found on the sidewalk?" I've only heard people say "look at this PENNY I found the other day..."

 

Actually there were 240 pennies or pence in in a pound until 1971 when the pound was converted to the decimal system making the penny 1/100th of a pound.

 

The US has produced nearly 900,000,000,000 coins with the word CENT on the reverse in big bold letters. In the same time, the US has produced exactly ZERO coins with the word PENNY on them for use in the United States. I understand that the terms are used interchangeably, but the correct term is and always will be cent.

 

I think it all comes down to what people are use to saying. I've never called a reclining chair a recliner, I've always called them lazy boys. I imagine if I start collecting lazy boys than I'm sure someone would correct me, and rightfully so. Cents is the proper term in the coin community, so I've adapted to calling a penny and cent. Even though I've never used the term 5, 10, or 25 pennies. AND speaking of pennies, I have a 165 British large penny lot coming this week!

 

The only type of "cent" I'm comfortable referring to as a "penny" is a wheat penny or a memorial penny, mostly because the majority of people (both collectors and not call them that) However I would personally cringe if I heard someone say "Hey that is a nice Chain penny" you got there. or "look at my book of braided hair pennies"

I understand that there is definitely an element of copper enthusiast snobbery in my thinking, but I just find "penny" to be such an odd sounding word when referring to 19th century copper. I know that people of the era called them pennies as well, but it just doesn't agree with me.

 

Cent? Penny? Cent? Penny? Cent? Penny? Cent? Penny?
Are, too! Am not! Are, too! Am not! Are, too! Am not!
To-may-to, to-mah-to.
Whatever one calls it, this an argument no one can win.
Why bother? Why is this so important?
Children. Children! Don't you people have something better to do with your lives?


Just my two cents.

 

It's what we do on Cointalk! Makes the site interesting

 

Let's go back to making fun of Fiddy.

 

If you offer someone a penny for their thoughts and they give you their two cents worth, how do you figure compensation?

 

The U.S. has Cents.

The British and their protectorates and territories have Pennies.

End of story.

 

The lord has spoken!

 

Funny, but the mint sells pennies!

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The United States Mint Uncirculated Coin Set® includes two folders of 14 coins each, one from the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia with coins bearing the “P” mint mark and the other from the U.S. Mint at Denver with coins bearing the “D” mint mark, for a total of 28 coins. Coins in each folder include:

• Five United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters® Program coins
• Four Presidential $1 Coins
• One Native American $1 Coin
• One Kennedy half-dollar
• One Roosevelt dime
• One Jefferson nickel
• One Lincoln penny

http://catalog.usmint.gov/uncircula...#_ga=1.223531679.529381679.1422329987&start=1

 

The term cent refers to the value of the coin that is called a penny.
Put another way, the penny is worth one cent.