BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?

Subject: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: michaelr
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 03:03 PM

I'd like to know.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,achmelvich
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 03:18 PM

why is the british quid called a pound?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 03:19 PM

I miss the old system of money for the British that was so incomprehensible - things that cost 7 bob and you get 8 and sixpence back?

Quid
Bob
crown
Half-crown
Sovereign...

Why did they have to go metric?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 03:28 PM

Going metric was just another way to rip us all off !! EVERYTHING was instantly more expensive for us !!

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,achmelvich
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 03:33 PM

anyone over a certain age in the uk had school jotters (notebooks for you abroad people) with tables of old forms of measurement which seem seriously bizarre these days (probably still in use at hogwarts, but nowhere else) The terms above - (don't forget the much loved tanner (sixpence or half a shilling or the guinea (21 shillings- wtf?)) charming and arcane as they sound were presumably a simplification of earlier terms. how much was a groat? a rood? etc. pecksniff anyone? i think a furlong is 200 yards?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Megan L
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 03:43 PM

everybody but everybody knows the groat was a fourpence and a rood was a quarter of an acre. and of course 7000 grains avoirdupois equalled one pound. he he

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: artbrooks
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 03:49 PM

Whack!

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: DMcG
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 03:53 PM

Don't forget how many years of effort at school went into adding £5/17/11 to £1/11/6, immediately followed by 11 chains, 20yd 2ft 10 inches to 7yd 4inches. It's a wonder we managed to fit anything else in!

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 04:40 PM

A furlong is 220 yards, one eight of a mile. (A mile of course is 1726 yards, nice round number)

£5/17/11 plus £1/11/6 - that's easy, £7/9/5. Nobody ever touched chains in my time. Partly no doubt because it wasn't really a fixed measure - most commonly a tenth of a furlong, 22 yes, distance between wickets in cricket.

All a lot easier actually, nice you were tuned in. Easier in many ways for practical purposes, such as shopping, than decimals.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Gurney
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 04:52 PM

They only changed it when calculators became generally available! As soon as it became easy to add, they made us learn mathematics, instead of arithmetic. Kids today are doing stuff at school that was university level when I was a child.


Can't help with the 'Quid.'

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: DMcG
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 05:00 PM

1760 yards to the mile, I'm sure you mean. We only used furlongs when learning the conversions:

12 inches 1 foot
3 feet 1 yard,
22 yards 1 chain,
10 chains 1 furlong
8 furlongs 1 mile

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Joe_F
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 06:24 PM

The OED says "of obscure origin". It has quotations going back to 1688, so the obscurity is probably permanent.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 06:37 PM

Quid- First use for pound sterling in 1688, origin unknown.

Possibly related to Middle English quide, a wad of something chewable.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:11 PM

When something was no good, it was described as being as much use as a 'nine bob note'. I never did get out of the habit of saying this,of course nobody under fifty knows what the bloody hell I'm talking about. Still, come to think of it, that's not particularly unusual these days.

Rog

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:20 PM

Guardian Notes and Queries had this question once and came up with an interesting range of suggestions here

One of the quirkiest is that it arose because at one time the notes were printed at a place called Quidhampton. But I'd be inclined to see that as just an odd coincidence. I'd incline towards the Latin word quid, meaning 'what' as a likely source, helped by the fact that the same word, spelt differently, means thing in Irish.

I doubt if its got anything to do with quids of tobacco, another suggestion there.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,Woodsie
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:22 PM

Quidhampton was where they made the banknote paper See wiki

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,Woodsie
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:26 PM

Another possibility is the Latin "quid pro quo" something for nothing as people saw money use instead of barter

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: michaelr
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:27 PM

Fascinating stuff. Thank you all!

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:29 PM

The Cockneys also call it a Saucepan, as in Saucepan Lid = Quid. :0)



The A - Z of Money Slang

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,van
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 07:52 PM

Because if it wasn't we couldn't do the sick squid joke.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 08:22 PM

I've always believed that if the EU had called the unit of currency the Quid - good Latin word - Britain would probably have cheerfully signed up for it.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: terrier
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 08:52 PM

I've never really gotten used to the 'new money' and still to this day think in pounds, shillings and pence (LSD), but what did LSD stand for?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 09:06 PM

For those who did drugs in their youth. A must-read about measurements. This will clear it all up for you.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 09:58 PM

Libra is Latin for a pound weight, and hence for a pound currency. Shillings are Shillings. Denarius was a Roman coing, treated as a precursor of the penny. LSD

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: MarkS
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 11:03 PM

Hang on, wasn't a pound sterling just that - a receipt for a one pound portion of sterling silver? Broken down was 20 silver shillings and each shilling was 10 silver pense?

Back when money was made of silver though - showing our ages!

Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 01:34 AM

A shilling was twelve (old) pence, not ten.
And, of course one (old) penny = two ha'pennies = four farthings. I can remember all of those being in circulation, as well as silver threepenny-bits.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 01:38 AM

That, of course was back in the days when money was worth something, and the average working man was paid next to fuck-all for working his bollocks off.

How times have changed!

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 02:01 AM

One of the weirdest measurements is a bushel, which can vary according to what is being measured. I came across a letter where American Quakers are writing home to their Irish relatives, saying (as far as I can remember) that they had dug and clamped two bushels of potatoes, which would be enough for the family for a year.
Given that at this stage (the book with the quote, Them Wild Woods, contains letters sent from the 18th century to the late 19th century) an Irish farmer would eat two stone of potatoes a day, that must have been plenty of potatoes - but how much?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 03:12 AM

Quid pro quo is not 'something for nothing' - It indicates an exchange of favours or a trade of goods of equal value. In legal usage, quid pro quo indicates that an item or a service has been traded in return for something of value,

So maybe the 'something of value' just became a quid? Who knows the mysteries of the English language? Even more complex than weights and measures :-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,Jack Sprocket
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 03:43 AM

LSD - librae, solidi, denarii. Roman coins*, that didn't bear the same relationship to each other, but classical was posh. Richard Gough, in his wonderful early 18th century History of Myddle , asserts that in Shropshire pounds were called 'leawans', a term I haven't come across anywhere else. 'Quid' for 'pound' is apparently attested from the 17th century, long before paper money, so Quidhampton is impossible as an origin. It also makes the Irish origin unlikely. 'Quid' however is Latin for, among various other meanings, 'how much', so something along those lines seems a likely enough origin.

As for chains and furlongs, note that an acre (4840 square yards) is one chain by one furlong- an idealised peasant strip in the mediaeval communal fields. And if you've never seen a peasant strip.....

*Actually the libra was a weight, the coin of that weight was an as, but how could we have called our currency that?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 04:22 AM

...and what is the link with a quid of tobacco? Not a pound's worth but enough for a chew?
And a cord of wood: is that a measure by weight or volume?
RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Tootler
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 04:35 AM

Distances on Britains railways were traditionally quoted in miles and chains.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,achmelvich
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 05:24 AM

what's the difference between a mile and a nautical mile - and why is there a difference?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,B.B. Cone
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 05:28 AM

One of the advantages of pre-decimal money was that the pound could be divided by 2,3,4,5,6,8, 10, 12 and 15. Being divisible by 3 was particularly useful for trios such as the one I played in - £4 for a gig meant £1.6/8d each.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 06:17 AM

Guest, the nautical mile is 6076 feet. Distances on the ocean are different from those on land.

The word ROOD; that was an old name for CROSS as I recall.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 06:24 AM

It's hard for me to imagine a piece of money that weighs 12 ounces. Did they measure precious metals by Troy weight back then?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: DMcG
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 06:51 AM

The nautical mile is ultimately based on measurement of angles via equipment like sextants, because at sea the stars are the points of reference. The mile is based on the typical size of a single pace, because that and (literally) land-marks are the reference. There's no real reason why there should be any connection between the two

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 07:06 AM

In that case, how far is a "space mile"??

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 07:07 AM

"'Quid' however is Latin for, among various other meanings, 'how much', so something along those lines seems a likely enough origin"
.,,.
Surely 'quid?' is Latin for 'what?'. 'Quod' is Latin for 'how much?'.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 01:06 PM

A nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude measured along any meridian, or about one minute of arc of longitude at the equator. By international agreement it has been set at 1852 meters.
One should remember this from school geography lessons.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 01:28 PM

Indeed one should remember but seldom does. PTL for Wikipedia.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: gnu
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 01:37 PM

cord of wood? asked above. 4' X 8' X 8'.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,CJB
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 11:18 PM

Ah - metrics.

Now here's good luck to the barrel
Good luck to the Barley Mow
Jolly good luck to the barrel
Good luck to the Barley Mow
Oh the - barrel, the half-barrel, gallon,
the half-gallon, quart pot, pint pot, half-a-pint,
gill pot, half-a-gill, quarter-gill,
nipperkin, and a round bowl
Here's good luck, good luck,
Good luck, to the Barley Mow

Etc.

Final chorus:

Here's good luck to the company,
Good luck to the Barley Mow;
Jolly good luck to the company,
Good luck to the Barley Mow;
Oh, the - company, the brewer,
the landlord, the landlady,
the slavee, the daughter,
the barrel, the half barrel,
gallon, the half gallon, quart pot,
pint pot, half a pint, gill pot,
half a gill, quarter gill,
nipperkin and a round bowl;
Here's good luck, good luck,
Good luck to the Barley Mow!

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 06:00 AM

Thanks, gnu.

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: catspaw49
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 11:26 AM

I heard they were thinking of calling it a quim but then they'd have to back it with pussy, probably Royal pussy. That would make it worthless now but can you imagine how it will skyrocket when William takes over?



Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: r.padgett
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 12:00 PM

Quid pro Quo in Law some thing equal in value

So presumably £1 note is to be accepted as the same value in its counter part in gold or whatever it is measured against, as it says on the note (now coin)

Ray

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: GUEST,Jack Sprocket
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 12:10 PM

But the term predates the use of pound notes in Britain by over a hundred years, and the use of any banknotes here by dozens of years.

As for the chewing quid, that may well have a completely separate origin: it's etymologically the same word as 'cud'.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the British pound called a quid?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 08:57 PM

I don't think that's actually true Jack. As I understand the term quid for money was recorded first around the time the first English bank notes were produced, in the 1690s.