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Post by Pete Whitehead on Oct 19, 2021 7:31:19 GMT
This conversation reminds of the dreaded 'bob a job' week which ruined my Easter holidays over a number of years. For those unfamiliar, this was a means by which Scouts raised a portion of their membership fee - IIRC the sum which needed to be raised was in the region of £15 (early 1980s). Typically one would get £1 or 50p for a job but there were always a number of people who took the 'bob' part of the name literally. Inevitably the worst offenders were those in the largest houses, so you could spend a couple of hours sweeping the drive of some MFs mansion by Stanmore common for them to give you 5p at the end of it, while the little old lady in the modest house up the road would give you a couple of quid for taking her dog for a walk. I think they changed the name to 'job week' to avoid this problem but there were still some people stuck in the 'bob a job' mindset. Presumably this is no longer a thing anyway due to safeguarding etc..
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Post by islington on Oct 19, 2021 9:04:55 GMT
It was always tuppence and threppence as I recall Now that you have mentioned it, I do recall that 'Threppence' was the pronunciation of the middle class and upper class people in the south when I grew up. In my family we tended to use 'Thruppence' because my parents were from the Midlands and North where that was the common usuage even by those (including my parents) with a Received Accent. 'Threppence' for me, although 'thruppence' was also very common. On an allied point, how would you have said out loud the sum of money written as 1½d? I'd have called it 'three-ha'pence' but some people used to say 'a penny-ha'penny'.
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Post by yellowperil on Oct 19, 2021 10:05:16 GMT
Now that you have mentioned it, I do recall that 'Threppence' was the pronunciation of the middle class and upper class people in the south when I grew up. In my family we tended to use 'Thruppence' because my parents were from the Midlands and North where that was the common usuage even by those (including my parents) with a Received Accent. 'Threppence' for me, although 'thruppence' was also very common. On an allied point, how would you have said out loud the sum of money written as 1½d? I'd have called it 'three-ha'pence' but some people used to say 'a penny-ha'penny'. definitely three-ha'pence for me, but like you I have heard a penny-ha'penny.
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Chris from Brum
Lib Dem
What I need is a strong drink and a peer group.
Posts: 9,173
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Post by Chris from Brum on Oct 19, 2021 10:09:50 GMT
My recollection is that it was a sixp'ny piece. It was a tanner to all my friends and relations. 3d was a threp'ny bit, 2s a florin, 2s 6d a half crown, or occasionally "half a dollar", presumably from a time when it was about $4 to the £1.
My grandmother kept a few tanners after demonetisation to put in the Christmas pudding.
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Post by islington on Oct 19, 2021 10:20:17 GMT
My recollection is that it was a sixp'ny piece. It was a tanner to all my friends and relations. 3d was a threp'ny bit, 2s a florin, 2s 6d a half crown, or occasionally "half a dollar", presumably from a time when it was about $4 to the £1.
My grandmother kept a few tanners after demonetisation to put in the Christmas pudding.
As I recall the 'dollar' (5/-) sometimes cropped, informally, up as a unit in its own right. And who now remembers the utter absurdity that was the 'guinea'? It was traditionally used for big-ticket items like furniture and white goods. I remember my father purchased something priced at 37½ gns, or some such amount, and grumbled at the mental gymnastics involved in determining how much he actually had to pay. Why did we put up with it? We must all have been mad.
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neilm
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Post by neilm on Oct 19, 2021 10:39:53 GMT
It was a tanner to all my friends and relations. 3d was a threp'ny bit, 2s a florin, 2s 6d a half crown, or occasionally "half a dollar", presumably from a time when it was about $4 to the £1. My grandmother kept a few tanners after demonetisation to put in the Christmas pudding.
As I recall the 'dollar' (5/-) sometimes cropped, informally, up as a unit in its own right. And who now remembers the utter absurdity that was the 'guinea'? It was traditionally used for big-ticket items like furniture and white goods. I remember my father purchased something priced at 37½ gns, or some such amount, and grumbled at the mental gymnastics involved in determining how much he actually had to pay. Why did we put up with it? We must all have been mad. Racehorses are still priced in guineas. The 5% is used as some sort of commission.
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cj
Socialist
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Post by cj on Oct 19, 2021 11:51:42 GMT
My recollection is that it was a sixp'ny piece. My childhood recognition was that it was a concealed chocking hazard in crimbo pudding that if it didn't succeed in its primary mission couldn't even be used to buy sweets (when the shops eventually re-opened) to celebrate my survival of another midwinter sacrificial offering.
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Post by carlton43 on Oct 19, 2021 14:15:57 GMT
threp’ny bit for me (middle class S Yorks, Stockport ancestry) but why ‘bit’? Is there any othe coin always known as a ‘bit’ Chunky, solid, quite thick and an 'odd' shape. Plus being not too far from constituent part of a bridle bit from an age when such horse-related terms were better known and understood.
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Post by andrew111 on Oct 19, 2021 14:51:58 GMT
'Threppence' for me, although 'thruppence' was also very common. On an allied point, how would you have said out loud the sum of money written as 1½d? I'd have called it 'three-ha'pence' but some people used to say 'a penny-ha'penny'. definitely three-ha'pence for me, but like you I have heard a penny-ha'penny. Yes, but with a silent h.. apeney (sounds like a place in East Anglia)
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Post by carlton43 on Oct 19, 2021 15:22:07 GMT
My recollection is that it was a sixp'ny piece. I knew it as a tanner. Tanner a bag. Cheap shoes four an' a tanner (4s/6d). Middle class would say sixpence, a sixpence, or a sixpenny bit. At Christmas, the pudding for the actual Christmas Dinner would contain a number of silver threepenny bits and one silver sixpence, kept in the kitchen for that purpose. One family member was always worried about 'silver' poisoning of our pudding and two older aunts were convinced children would swallow them and either choke to death or die in hospital of gastric complication. It was all angsts in those days, just like it is now but on quite different specious nonsense.
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Post by andrew111 on Oct 19, 2021 15:24:53 GMT
As I recall the 'dollar' (5/-) sometimes cropped, informally, up as a unit in its own right. And who now remembers the utter absurdity that was the 'guinea'? It was traditionally used for big-ticket items like furniture and white goods. I remember my father purchased something priced at 37½ gns, or some such amount, and grumbled at the mental gymnastics involved in determining how much he actually had to pay. Why did we put up with it? We must all have been mad. Racehorses are still priced in guineas. The 5% is used as some sort of commission. When I were a lad you could buy a racehoss for tuppence apeney! (and you tell that to young people today!)
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Post by carlton43 on Oct 19, 2021 15:35:05 GMT
It was a tanner to all my friends and relations. 3d was a threp'ny bit, 2s a florin, 2s 6d a half crown, or occasionally "half a dollar", presumably from a time when it was about $4 to the £1.
My grandmother kept a few tanners after demonetisation to put in the Christmas pudding.
As I recall the 'dollar' (5/-) sometimes cropped, informally, up as a unit in its own right. And who now remembers the utter absurdity that was the 'guinea'? It was traditionally used for big-ticket items like furniture and white goods. I remember my father purchased something priced at 37½ gns, or some such amount, and grumbled at the mental gymnastics involved in determining how much he actually had to pay. Why did we put up with it? We must all have been mad. Bloodstock and Fine Art auctions stayed with Guineas for a very long time, partly as a class and status matter, but more importantly because people thought 'pounds' and actually paid more.
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neilm
Non-Aligned
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Post by neilm on Oct 19, 2021 15:58:28 GMT
As I recall the 'dollar' (5/-) sometimes cropped, informally, up as a unit in its own right. And who now remembers the utter absurdity that was the 'guinea'? It was traditionally used for big-ticket items like furniture and white goods. I remember my father purchased something priced at 37½ gns, or some such amount, and grumbled at the mental gymnastics involved in determining how much he actually had to pay. Why did we put up with it? We must all have been mad. Bloodstock and Fine Art auctions stayed with Guineas for a very long time, partly as a class and status matter, but more importantly because people thought 'pounds' and actually paid more. Well there is that! My dad got a legal bill in guineas in the 1980s.
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Post by john07 on Oct 19, 2021 17:58:46 GMT
As I recall the 'dollar' (5/-) sometimes cropped, informally, up as a unit in its own right. And who now remembers the utter absurdity that was the 'guinea'? It was traditionally used for big-ticket items like furniture and white goods. I remember my father purchased something priced at 37½ gns, or some such amount, and grumbled at the mental gymnastics involved in determining how much he actually had to pay. Why did we put up with it? We must all have been mad. Racehorses are still priced in guineas. The 5% is used as some sort of commission. I recall going to car auctions and all the bidding was in Guineas. The seller received the bid in Pounds and the auctioneer had the balance.
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Post by gwynthegriff on Oct 19, 2021 18:29:56 GMT
Racehorses are still priced in guineas. The 5% is used as some sort of commission. I recall going to car auctions and all the bidding was in Guineas. The seller received the bid in Pounds and the auctioneer had the balance. Pedigree cattle are still sold on the same basis.
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Post by tonyhill on Oct 19, 2021 19:39:37 GMT
I think I bought my MA from Cambridge in guineas.
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neilm
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Post by neilm on Oct 20, 2021 9:14:12 GMT
I think I bought my MA from Cambridge in guineas. IIRC, Sir Humphrey said the Oxford ones cost 21 guineas.
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pl
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Post by pl on Oct 20, 2021 9:32:23 GMT
I think I bought my MA from Cambridge in guineas. IIRC, Sir Humphrey said the Oxford ones cost 21 guineas. That’s one thing for which costs have gone down. Mine was free, and came with a decent dinner too - although the port wasn’t as good as at our matriculation dinner…
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Chris from Brum
Lib Dem
What I need is a strong drink and a peer group.
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Post by Chris from Brum on Nov 16, 2021 16:56:45 GMT
Intrigued by the recent appearance of batman. Care to introduce yourself, or do we know you already?
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Post by gwynthegriff on Nov 16, 2021 17:50:58 GMT
Intrigued by the recent appearance of batman. Care to introduce yourself, or do we know you already? Can he help distinguish Brandt's from Whiskered?
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