BS: Another question for Brits

Subject: BS: Another question for Brits
From: RangerSteve
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 07:01 PM

Maybe we could start another perma-thread, one that covers questions that Brits and Americans have concerning language, pop culture, and other differences.

Anyway, here's a question that can be answered easily. How much is a Quid? The word keeps showing up in British TV shows and we don't have quids in the U.S.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 07:03 PM

One pound, 100 new pence, one fifth of a fiver.
G

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Megan L
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 07:06 PM

It is an name derived from the ancient and honourable game of quidditch and was the minimum amout allowed in any one bet

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: gnomad
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 07:51 PM

I have a few quids in stock, and could be persuaded to part with 'em for say $10US apiece, tax and carriage included, minimum order 100 quids (cash only, sorry)

I also have a number of seagulls, pigeons, and a couple of bridges you might like?

This capitalism lark's a hoot, innit?


I like the permathread idea, we could just check in periodically, there's always at least one of us getting confused about something.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 07:54 PM

One hundred pence - but twenty shillings before they screwed up the currency.

But if only we could get them to call the European currency "the Quid" instead of "the Euro". I'm sure most of the antagonism to adopting it in this country would die pretty rapidly.

After all "quid" is a good Latin word meaning "something", and hence pretty internationally European to start with.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 08:07 PM

It has been explained to me before, but I never remember.

Is half six 5:30 or 6:30?

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 08:09 PM

It's three.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Greg B
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 08:30 PM

But how is it two tanners make a bob, five make two-and-six
and one for his nob? :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Rowan
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 08:35 PM

I have a few quids in stock

Sounds like you're talking about chewing tobacco. If you're talking about currrency, the plural of quid is like the plural of sheep; there's no "s" at the tail.

Cheers, Rowan; we had them in Oz until 40 odd years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 08:44 PM

Q, if you are referring to German phraseology, 'half six' would be a half hour until 6.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 08:47 PM

But in the UK it's half past, not half before!

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Greg B
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 09:05 PM

That's why the Germans nearly won the war--- they were always
there an hour before.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Nick E
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 09:06 PM

SO in the UK what does it mean if the glass is half empty?

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 09:30 PM

Steve, it's rather obvious that they aren't going to tell you. Quid is slang for £1. One pound sterling, which is now about $2USD if not a bit more.


Now, as to how it came by that, I surely can't tell you. It was the old English monetary system with all those words--quid, bob, farthing, shilling, etc. At least now it's on the metric system.

If you really want to understand the old monetary system, I suggest you PM a friendly Brit.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 09:45 PM

SO in the UK what does it mean if the glass is half empty? It's only half full, and time to top it up.
........................
Steve, it's rather obvious that they aren't going to tell you. Twice told already and you're the third, Sorcha:

"Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true."

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 09:57 PM

Thanks, Richard Bridge, that's the one I want- half past. I was always hearing it in London. It seems to me that it should be half way to six rather than after.

Was McGrath trying to mislead me, or do Scots use it differently?

A quid is defined in the OED as a sovereign, a coin (skipping the early history) which, by Royal Proclamation, was defined as 20 shillngs in 1817. The origin is unknown.

(The game 'quidditch,' mentioned by Megan, above, is not cited in the OED. No such?)

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Bert
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 10:04 PM

No it is not on the metric system. it is not even decimalised as they claimed at the time. It is a centigesimal system.

The old system used to be twelve pence = one shilling, twenty shillings = one pound.

The abbreviatioons were L.S.D. for pounds shillings and pence.

From the Latin Libra - Pound (plural Librae), Solidus - shilling(plural solidi) and denarius - penny (Plural denarii).

Rule Britannia, two tanners make a bob,
three make eighteen pence and four make two bob.

Other coins were the farthing which was a quarter of a penny and the halfpenny.

slang -
the penny was a stever - rhyming slag for which was coal heaver. Even today you'll hear people say 'ain't worth a coal'
threepenny bits are rhyming slang for tits.
the sixpence was a sprazie
a shilling was a bob
half a crown was half a tosh but I never heard anyone call a crown a 'tosh'
a crown was a five shilling piece also called a dollar from its value years ago. Rhyming slang an Oxford Scholar or simply an Oxford
A pound is a quid or a onecer.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 03:57 AM

SO in the UK what does it mean if the glass is half empty?

That's why everyone is looking at you. It's your shout next.

"Eighteen pence"- where was that quaint phrase in use, so redolent of powdered wigs? It were always one-and-six when I were a lad. The price of fish and chips at Kidd's. Never heard a "stever", and 6d was a tanner. There was a definite middle- class aura, at least round where I was, about the pronunciation of threepence as "thruppence". Crowns fell out of use before my time, except for special commemorative issues for Churchill's funeral, for example. Farthings had too, but there were lots around in the backs of drawers. Half a crown was half a dollar, which was roughly the rate of exchange during WWII. A ten bob note was a bloody good birthday present, a pound note something parents had, a fiver something shops might refuse to change.

If I give you half a crown
Will you pull your knickers down?

But which has suffered more from inflation: the penny whistle, the tenner banjo, or the grand piano?

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Stu
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 04:15 AM

Five quid makes a Lady, and ten an Ayrton.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: fat B****rd
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 04:25 AM

If your glass is usually half-full it means you're prety much optimistic, if it's half empty it means you're a miserable git.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 04:53 AM

Anyone remember the name of the comic who, when the UK and Eire were about to go decimal (can't spell the other one - cent-summat-or other) who lamented the end of

'One, one and a hay, tup, thrup and a hiddley hay-penny' ?

A sixpence, when linked to a number of shillings was a 'kick' - so a half dollar was two and a kick.

'Tosh' comes, I think, from Thieves Cant 'Tosheroon', but I only ever heard that used on 'Dixon of Dock Green'.

Yes, the poshies said 'thruppence', and us plebs and paupers
'fripemce' (the 'm' is not a typo !).

And who could ever forget a 'pee shilling tooce' ?

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: David C. Carter
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:12 AM

A friend of mine usually called a "quid" a "oncer"

A "Fiver" was a "flem?",and all money was known as "wedge".

Over here we call euros "Zero"
Which is what it's worth.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: RolyH
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:14 AM

Us posh people never used quids. It was guineas where we shopped.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:24 AM

Then there was the marine biologist who had sick squid in a tank.

G.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: TheSnail
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 06:26 AM

I also have a number of seagulls, pigeons, and a couple of bridges you might like?

And, co course, a pony is twenty five quid and a monkey is five hundred quid.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: The PA
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 06:35 AM

Cor Blimy! hasnt anyone seen 'Mary Poppins'.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: GUEST,HuwG at work
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 08:50 AM

Coins with Germanic rather than Latin origin were the Mark, 13/4 (thirteen shillings and fourpence), two thirds of a pound, and the groat (6/8, half a Mark). Try doing that in decimal. Is there a coin that represents three point three recurring pennies?

In armed forces slang, five-pound notes are "divvies", standing for "drinks vouchers". BDV (blue drinks voucher) was also used. Fivers were sometimes also "blueys" before the insipid turquoise version with Elizabeth Fry on one side, and ten-pound notes still are "brownies".

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Splott Man
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 11:25 AM

Wasn't a silver threepence a Joey?

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 11:31 AM

after that many slang terms for various forms of money, I'm not sure I want to ask Brits any more questions..... *grin*

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 11:38 AM

No one's mentioned the old Florin - which was a two bob coin, one tenth of a pound, introduced back in the 19th century as a step towards a decimal coinage. So of course in a sense it's still with us, as the Tenpenny piece - except no one ever actually calls it a Florin. The same way no one calls the pound coin a Sovereign.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 11:44 AM

I know people who still say 20 Sovs, for £20, when I was younger there was a fad for the £1 & 10/- notes to be called . a bar, and half a bar.
Then there was the 50 Piece, which they tried to nickname a 'Wilson' after Harold Wilson PM, because it was two faced, and many sided.
Nicker,and half a nicker, the list goes on and on.
G

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 11:49 AM

Nobody where I come from said 'thruppence', that's just for Southern Poofters. It was, and always shall be, 'threppence'.
And a quid was a Bar, so ten bob was 'Afe a Bar.
Five bob was a dollar. Two and six was either 'Afe a dollar or two-and-a-kick. Sixpence was a Tanner.

Ah, life was so much simpler in the Good Old Days! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 12:45 PM

"Thrupp'ney Bi(t)"

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: The Walrus
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 01:12 PM

The name 'Tanner' for sixpence came from Victorian London

The Victorian nickname for a sixpence was a 'Thin' or, in rhyming slang a "Tanner and Skin", which became "Tanner".

As there have been mention of 'older' coinage, there used, over the years, to be four gold coins:
The Sovereign - £1 - 20 shillings - Known during the Napoleonic period, by some, as "Pitt's Cavalry" as it featured St George on the reverse and was used to hire/support foreign armies in the wars against France.
The Guinea - £1 1/- - 21 shillings
Half Guinea - 10/- - Ten shillings and six pence
Quarter Guinea -   5/3 - Five shillings and three pence - Recorded by Francis Grose as "The Whore's Curse"

Although Sovereigns are still minted, they effectively were taken out of circulation during the Great War.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: GUEST,highlandman
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 02:09 PM

>(The game 'quidditch,' mentioned by Megan, above, is not cited in the OED. No such?)

Don't know the wagering conventions surrounding it, but I understand it is played with broomsticks.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: RangerSteve
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 02:57 PM

Thanks. I got the info I needed and a whole lot more that I'll never remember. At least I come back to this thread and use it as a reference when I have more questions about British money.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 04:13 PM

If Quidditch isn't yet in an OED supplement no question but that it will be soon. "Muggle", has been in the OED since 2003. (See here)

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Rowan
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 04:53 PM

Although I'm from Oz we had many of the coins and (differently coloured) the notes mentioned above, although the slang was usually different; many have fallen into disuse since we got dismal guernsey.

"Eighteen pence"- where was that quaint phrase in use, so redolent of powdered wigs? It were always one-and-six when I were a lad. The price of fish and chips at Kidd's.

PMB, I vaguely remember the schoolyard rhyme that mentioned 18 pence, even in Oz. It started

When I was young and had no sense
I took a girl behind the fence
I gave her a penny but she wouldn't have any
I gave her a trey (thr'pence) and she said she may
I gave her a zack (sixpence) and she showed me her crack
....

but I don't recall the rest.
As you can tell, it relies on Oz slang for the currency names.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:00 PM

My last OED update is 1987- and I suddenly realize that was some 20 years ago! Have to save my pennies!

The sovereign gold coin was (is?) very attractive, with George and the dragon on the reverse. It was a popular gift item here in Canada.
[Canadian banks can deal in foreign money, U. S. banks are not permitted to, except for reserve banks. Very convenient when bidding on small items from England on Ebay; sterling money orders easily obtainable. For travelers, the banks will sell one the small amount of foreign currencies that it is handy to carry along with one's plastic, and cash in any leftover currency when one returns.]

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:12 PM

Both Sovereigns and Guineas have had different face values. I found a numismatist's site while looking for something else, but have no idea where it is now.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: PoppaGator
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:18 PM

"Quid" and "guinea" are both slang/informal names for "pound," right? Much as a "buck" means a "dollar" here in the US.

In the US, a "fin" is a $5 bill. I intended to also provide the corresponding old-time slang name for a $10, but am having a brain-fart at the moment.

A $100 bill is a "c-note" (for obvious Roman-numeral reasons, not anythning to do with music) or a "benjamin" (because it displays a portrait of Mr Franklin).

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Rowan
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:26 PM

"Quid" and "guinea" are both slang/informal names for "pound," right?

Not quite, PoppaGator; you're spot on for the quid (20 shillings in old terms) and the guinea was 21 such shillings (and used in posh places).

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:45 PM

yeh and 'quid pro quo' is a cheap prostitute rock fan....

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Peace
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:47 PM

When ya wake Britons up at 3:00 AM they talk just like Canadians.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Peace
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 05:50 PM

I know that because my grandparents were Brits and they spoke just like everyone else in Canada.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Rowan
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 07:10 PM

Yours must have been special, Peace. Canadians in Oz get a bit exercised if, because of their accent, locals assume them to be from south of the border.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: The Walrus
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 08:11 PM

Canadians in Oz get a bit exercised if, because of their accent, locals assume them to be from south of the border.


Rule number one: If they sound Northern American (as opposed to Southern states), ask if they're Canadian - Americans won't care, but you get Brownie points from Canadians - Likewise, if they sound Antipodean, assume New Zealander, same result Aussies don't care, Kiwis are flattered.
It does make matters slightly easier. ;-)

W

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 08:11 PM

Guinea pieces were minted from 1663 till 1817, after the sovereign had been reintroduced in 1815. It continued to be used notionally for some kinds of prices throughout the 19th century and into the 20th - for example tailors or lawyers, or for watches. Not necessarily posh transactions.

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Rowan
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 08:44 PM

Good advice, Walrus; I've pleased many Canadians by such behaviour.

Sorry, Kevin; when I described prices in guineas as "posh" I was referring to their use in Oz. But you're right; this thread is about the UK situation, where only some of the Oz conventions overlap. As far as I know, no currency was minted in Oz in the early part of C19 (hence the holey dollars) and, while sovereigns may have been minted here later, I'm pretty certain guineas never were. Posh shops had prices marked in guineas and art auctions dealt in nothing else, which all ended with dismal guernsey.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Another question for Brits
From: Leadfingers
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 09:32 PM

As far as my two brain cells remember , the only thing regularly in Giuneas these days is Quality Horseflesh !