Watching the Beatles documentary the other week and it occurred to me that I wasn’t able to relate to some of the UK monetary slang….. Here in the US we have a myriad of terms referring to our cash, buck, greenback, etc……… When I am hearing someone from the UK ask for a “quid” or “shilling” or a “crown”…. Are these in relation to an amount of cash?
Quid = pound Quids in = will benefit financially Nicker = pound Shilling = an old coin worth 12 pence (1/20 pound) Crown = an old coin worth 1/4 pound Farthing = an old coin worth 1/4 penny Ha'penny = an old coin worth 1/2 penny Tuppence = two pence (also slang for a part of the female anatomy) Thrupenny bit = an old coin worth 3 pence Groat = an old coin worth 4 pence Coppers = 1 and 2 penny coins Shrapnel = loose change Fiver = £5 Tenner = £10 Score = betting term for £20 Pony = betting term for £25 Ton = £100 Monkey = £500 Grand = £1000 Dosh = cash Mulah = cash Readies = cash Spend a penny = go to the bathroom Not a monetary term, but you don't want to know what Randy means...
The word shilling comes from Old English "Scilling", a monetary term meaning twentieth of a pound, from the Proto-Germanic root skiljaną meaning 'to separate, split, divide', from (s)kelH- meaning 'to cut, split. The crown, originally known as the "crown of the double rose", was an English coin introduced as part of King Henry VIII's monetary reform of 1526, with a value of five shillings. Quid probably goes back to when transactions were carried out through bartering instead of money. From Latin Quid pro Quo (Something for something). Chewing tobacco were a popular bartering item and were known as quid of tobacco
Tanner = 6d or sixpence bob = 12d or a shilling twa bob =24d or two shillings or florin In Scotland a farthing was a bodle, a halfpenny was a bawbee.
you forgot: LIFT...ELEVATOR KNOCK YOU UP SOMETIME....CALL ON THE TELEPHONE CAN I BUM A FAG? MAY I BORROW A CIGARETTE BACK WHEN I WORKED AT CALDORS ONE OF MY CLERKS WASS FROM ENGLAND WE USED TO HANG OUT AFTER WORK GO TO DINNER AND SUCH, JUST A FRIEND, AS HAD A GIRLDFRIEND AT THE TIME, SHE TAUGHT ME A FEW SLANG WORDS...GOOD TIMES..
Seams Elton John has some money talk of this own when asking Nas X for help paying for his food on TV... Learn something every day huh! Enjoyed the post, thank you.
I personally own a 1/3 farthing. I know there were also half and quarter farthings. Of course this was a hundred years or more before the Beatles, but I've always wondered what in the world such a small amount would buy. Have any clue?
Third of a farthing was for use in Malta, I believe. A lot of these weird denominations were to match up to some local denomination. According to the Wikipedia entry, 1 farthing = 3 grani, so 1/3 farthing is 1 grano. Most people were very poor back then, so even small denominations probably saw quite a bit of use. The pound was worth about 4.5 dollars in the late 1700s. (I don't know the early 1800's exchange rate off the top of my head). So a UK penny was about 2 cents US, and a farthing was about 1/2 cent. 1/3 farthing would have been about 1/6th cent, which was quite small, but after inflation probably worth more than a US cent is worth today...
Ok, I own a MS 64 1913 issue and I knew it was for use in Malta, but now it makes total sense it was minted to match a local denomination.
The half farthings were legal tender in Britain but the 1/4 and 1/3 farthings were not. Even a half farthing had very little purchasing power.