I need to know things!

[mrv3000]

I've been watching older British mysteries, and the old money system confuses me a LOT. Like...when someone says something like "6 and 7" (or any two numbers - "x and x") what does that mean?

I looked for some sort of guide on the old system, but a site I found (supposedly for schoolchildren) made me all cross-eyed.

(Also, I'm annoyed at myself. I meant to drop DVDs in the mail today, but since I didn't, the new Marple DVDs won't come back to me until after the holiday weekend. BAH.)

Comments

[soniag.livejournal.com]

I would think it means 6 shillings and 7 pence. You probably already learned this, but a pound was 20 shillings, and a shilling was 12 pence.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I think I saw something about that. I have no idea how people could keep it all straight! :D

[josephides.livejournal.com]

Maybe shillings and pence? And I have no idea what it means. It's just a different value of money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shilling

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Probably? :D

And HELLO!

[mornea.livejournal.com]

Even a timelady like Susan had trouble with the old British money system. :)

(see "an unearthly child")

I can't understand it at ALL.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Mwah! I'm so used to the whole decimal way of doing things, it's hard to wrap my mind around it.

[jacksrubberduck.livejournal.com]

I'm British and I don't get it.

I do know that it was pounds, shillings and pence (£sd) in that order but then I have to look it up to make any sense of it.
6 and 7 would be 6 shillings and 7 pence I believe.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

And then there are crowns! And sovereigns!

[jacksrubberduck.livejournal.com]

Okay I had to look this up.
The coins were:
* Half crown (2/6)
* Florin or two shillings (2/-)
* Shilling (1/-)
* Sixpence (6d)
* Threepence (3d) (usually pronounced "throopence", "thruppence" or similar)
* Penny (1d)
* Halfpenny (½d) (usually pronounced HAY-p'nee)

A crown was 5 shillings and a farthing was a 1/4d. Sovereigns were 20 shillings.

And if you come across anyone talking about 'bob' it's slang for shilling and 'quid' is pound.
It really doesn't help that some of this terminology dates back to the middle ages.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Okay, so... was a half crown 2/6th of a pound? What does 2/- mean?

[jacksrubberduck.livejournal.com]

Sorry 2/6 is just how 2 and 6 was written down. So half a crown is 2 shillings and six pence and 2/- is 2 shillings. Pounds have always been £.

You can write 1 pound 2 shillings and 6 pence as £1 2s 6d or 1/2/6.

I've been reading about it just now and I still don't really understand it all.
It's total madness.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh. Got it! I think. :D

[selenityshiroi.livejournal.com]

British predecimal currenty is something like:

If Saturn is crossing the path of Virgo and the moon is in it's third quarter and it hasn't rained at night for twelve nights...then it's worth a loaf of bread.

Or something equally as confusing.

There was a reason it was decimalised.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Now it makes sense! XD

[nicachick007.livejournal.com]

But see when you say "6 and 7" I think of "at sixes and sevens" which also a British phrase. Which means stuff is confusing or in disarray, according to Wiki.

I like the phrase though I don't really get it. I came across it for the first time in one of Agatha Christie's... I think it was the Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories, and it was the story "Manx Gold," which in case you haven't read it, is awesome. The end.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think of that phrase, probably because I hear it so rarely. :D

[nicachick007.livejournal.com]

I've only heard it that once, but it stuck! That happens with phrases I like, such as "such and such a thing will not be all beer and skittles." That one just makes me giggle a lot. Because to us, skittles TOTALLY doesn't mean what it used to mean. :D

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Never heard that one!

[nicachick007.livejournal.com]

That's another one I picked up from Agatha Christie! I can't remember which one though... but skittles apparently is the father of bowling and they used to do it in pubs. Thus "beer and skittles!"

[shinyopals.livejournal.com]

Lol Michelle, it is not worth the space it takes in your brain. SERIOUSLY.

I did one lesson on it at school once, and that was just an exercise in adding in base 12. We promptly forgot all about it.

Although given the US's hatred of metric, I'm surprised y'all haven't tried something similar! ;-)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why I can comprehend distance on the inches, feet, yards, miles, but that whole shilling thing... :D

[audrich.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly certain soniag has it right - I vaguely remember the old system (yes, I am that old, LOL) and if shopkeeper had said to me "That'd be 6 and 7", I would have given them 6 shillings & 7 pence. Well, I wouldn't because I'd never have that much money, lol.
Decimalisation was definitely needed (though some items are still valued in sovereigns, like horses!) but I still cannot get the hang of metric weights. I JUST WANT 2LBS OF APPLES GODDAMNIT.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

It would be SO hard for me to convert to metric when it comes to weight or distance. Sometimes I try just for the hell of it, but I usually give up. :D