h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Excellent. A shilling was also called bob - I'd love to know why - probably cockney rhyming slang. And the 10s. note was a ten bob note.

The notation was quite nifty, 1/- being a shilling, 1/6 one and six, or should there be a d. in there?

I also remember kids collecting "bun pennies", in Glasgow in the 60's, which were pennies with a certain picture of Queen Vic. which was dominated by the bun. I can't remember why they were collected tho' but they were prized possessions, they didn't get spent on gobstoppers.
New money is dull.

When I've worked out the Guide ML stuff (what a wimp) there'll be subheadings viz" quid or knicker". "bob" "Tickeys and tanners"
and something about ponies and monkeys as soon as someone tells me which is which. I agree about the notation (footnote forthcoming, except I don't have a key on this board for a pound sign) Thanx,

Wasn't there a Wooden Thrupenny bit? And what was different about it to a normal Thruppenny bit?

"Only in the phrase "He's as much use as a wooden thrupenny bit"

Hi - don't worry about Guide ML - the subs will do that!


Enjoyable article - I will try and think of additions for you.

This is a really interesting and useful article. Thank you so much for contributing it.

I vaguely remember "spratzy" for a sixpence. Some of the pennies we used to call "Honolulu" pennies - this was childish rudeness; the position of the trident made it look phallic, and we used to say that her hand was "on 'er lulu" !!!

The half-crown was also called half-a-dollar in some areas.

LOL (Do you think it had anything to do with the old music hall song "Keep your hand on your ha'penny"?

Yes, it used to be half a dollar in the East end, presumably from the days when you could get four dollars to the pound, which I'm not old enough to remember though, as I've said elsewhere, I can remember a US penny being the same value as a UK one.

How far back are you going? I have groats, a silver coin 1351 to 1662 = 4 pennies (from the dictionary)

Why are they called groats? I thought groats were an agricultural product, some kind of buckwheat.

I've mentioned groats as being worth fourpence. I don't know why any coin got its name - except the farthing and halfpenny and I certainly don't know why they have the slang names I referred to. Does anyone else accept "haf a bar" as ten bob?

I'm not familiar with that name for ten bob. (BTW had to explain to my brother the first time he heard this term that the plural of bob is still bob, its not ten bobs!)
My dictionary suggests groat is from "groot" for "great" as in great thick penny.

Haven't heard "half-a-bar" for years! Or "half-a-nicker", which was another word for 10 bob. (obviously, a nicker/knicker was a quid)

Oddly, I never heard anyone actually use "nicker" for a full pound - it was always "arfurnicker"

I have also read that 'bender' was once a word for a sixpenny piece. The phrase "going on a bender" is slang for going out and getting seriously drunk (as opposed to tipsy or merry). It derives from the days when you used to be able to get drunk for six old pence.

Great article!

I do recall that when I lived in Ghana, West Africa, there were inner-city bars where you could go and drink homebrew and get drunk for only about 25 US cents, or maybe 15 new pence. That's not that far off from 6 old p, is it?

15 new p + (technically) 3 old shillings = 36 old d, but given world inflation since 1971, I'd say you're about right

Before the duodecagonal 'thruppeny bit', there was a silver threepence.
Just thought you'd like to know!!
'G'

Thanx. I thought it was in there somewhere, but I wasn't able to recast it when I said I would Soon I promise

Very nice article. You can get a pound sterling sign into your entry by typing either £ or £

For some reason that doesn't work in forum entries (presumably HTML is blocked) but that's good because otherwise it would be difficult to explain. It does work in GuideML though. Hope that helps.

Oh and you might find the following characters of some use too:

¼ or ¼ = one quarter
½ or ½ = one half
¾ or ¾ = three quarters
£ or £ = pound sterling sign (just to reiterate!)

-Dan-

I can remember the 2/6d coin being referred to as 'half a dollar'

'G'