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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

Pence or pee?

Here in Aus we were told (very strictly indeed) when Britain decimalised that the minimum unit of the new currency was not pence, but "p".

Now all the financial gurus at the end of the TV news insist on comparing our currency to the number of "pence" it is worth.

Is this an Aussie solecism or have the Poms reverted to the old expressions?
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Here in Aus we were told (very strictly indeed) when Britain decimalised that the minimum unit of the new currency ... number of "pence" it is worth. [/nq] The official name is "pence", or "penny" for the singular.

  • [nq:1]Here in Aus we were told (very strictly indeed) when Britain decimalised that the minimum unit of the new currency ...
  • number of "pence" it is worth.
  • [/nq] The official name is "pence", or "penny" for the singular.
  • The "p" was only ever meant to be used in writing.
  • However from day one of decimalization British people said "pee" when speaking of currency sums and they never stopped.
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23 Answers
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[nq:1]Here in Aus we were told (very strictly indeed) when Britain decimalised that the minimum unit of the new currency ... number of "pence" it is worth. Is this an Aussie solecism or have the Poms reverted to the old expressions?[/nq]
The official name is "pence", or "penny" for the singular. The "p" was only ever meant to be used in writing. However from day one of decimalization British p
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[nq:2]Here in Aus we were told (very strictly indeed) when ... solecism or have the Poms reverted to the old expressions?[/nq]
[nq:1]The official name is "pence", or "penny" for the singular. The "p" was only ever meant to be used in ... so. However, it has just settled as the standard usage, though "pence" would be strictly the correct term in speech.[/nq]
I visited England during the per
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[nq:2]The official name is "pence", or "penny" for the singular. ... though "pence" would be strictly the correct term in speech.[/nq]
[nq:1]I visited England during the period when both the old and new currency were in general circulation, and at that ... it was typical at the time. Or maybe the islanders were just ironically putting us visiting colonials in our place.[/nq]
The officia
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[nq:2]The official name is "pence", or "penny" for the singular. ... though "pence" would be strictly the correct term in speech.[/nq]
[nq:1]I visited England during the period when both the old and new currency were in general circulation, and at that ... but it was typical at the time. Or maybe the islanders were just ironically putting us visiting colonials inour place.[/nq]
I remember
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[nq:2]Here in Aus we were told (very strictly indeed) when ... solecism or have the Poms reverted to the old expressions?[/nq]
[nq:1]The official name is "pence", or "penny" for the singular. The "p" was only ever meant to be used in writing. However from day one of decimalization British people said "pee" when speaking of currency sums and they never stopped.[/nq]
That's not quite how I r
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How about half a crown?
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[nq:2]The official name is "pence", or "penny" for the singular. ... "pee" when speaking of currency sums and they never stopped.[/nq]
[nq:1]That's not quite how I remember it. We spoke of "old pence" and "new pence" for quite a while first.[/nq]
Interesting sentence, constuction-wise, Laur. A British thingie?
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[nq:1]How about half a crown?[/nq]
They don't stay on too well.

Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/
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Matthew Huntbach filted:
[nq:1]The official name we were supposed to use for the new currency in order to distinguish it from the old ... instead, from the written abbreviation The old pennies, of course, used the abbreviation "d", though no-one ever called them "dee").[/nq]
Were there ever Abbott and Costello (or whatever the British equivalent is) jokes about "d stands for penny"?
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[nq:2]How about half a crown?[/nq]
[nq:1]They don't stay on too well.[/nq]
Even if you try and balance it on a "sovereign".

Andrew Gwilliam
To email me, replace "bottomless pit" with "silverhelm"

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