LSD

[lethargic_man]

Why did names for amounts of money change when they decimalised it? I can see why "shilling" dropped out of usage, along with the likes of "bob", "tanner", "crown", "sovereign", "dollar" (for 5/-), "florin"^*, and so forth. But why did the term for "two pence" (the amount, not the coin) change from "tuppence" to "2p"? Perhaps it was just so you could tell whether someone was referring to old currency or new. If so, it seems a bit of a shame; the term "fippence" could have come into its own, now there was a coin that actually had that value...

* Quaestio: Did people continue using this term, given that the coin remained in circulation as a 10p piece for many years?

Comments

Re: LSD

[neonchameleon.livejournal.com]

Ah. The Florin. The Godless and Graceless Coin. IIRC, the thing was brought in as an early attempt at decimalisation and was extremely unpopular, mostly because it missed out the standard acolades, causing it to be referred to as a Godless and Graceless Coin. Not one people minded forgetting.

Re: LSD

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Ah. The Florin. The Godless and Graceless Coin. IIRC, the thing was brought in as an early attempt at decimalisation and was extremely unpopular, mostly because it missed out the standard acolades, causing it to be referred to as a Godless and Graceless Coin.

Standard accolades? You mean "[REGINA] DEI GRATIA"? "FID. DEF." is on the one picture above.

Not one people minded forgetting.

Well, I liked it. But then, I grew up used to it.

*

The section on Scottish money (http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/money.htm#scot) on the page I got that from is worth a look. It's hard to believe some of those names aren't made up! ("Merk", btw, is "mark". In English money a mark used to be two thirds of a pound.)

One thing the page doesn't mention is that by the time it was abolished, the Scots pound had become so devalued it was worth no more than an English shilling, hence the passage in Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped:

"Davie," he said at length, "I've been thinking"; then he paused, and said it again. "There's a wee bit siller that I half promised ye before ye was born," he continued; "promised it to your father. Oh, naething legal, ye understand; just gentlemen daffing at their wine. Well, I keepit that bit money separate -- it was a great expense, but a promise is a promise -- and it has grown by now to be a maitter of precisely -- just exactly" -- and here he paused and stumbled -- "of just exactly forty pounds!" This last he rapped out with a sidelong glance over his shoulder; and the next moment added, almost with a scream, "Scots!"

[...] "Oh, think again, sir! Pounds sterling, I believe!"

"That's what I said," returned my uncle; "pounds sterling."

Re: LSD

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

One thing the page doesn't mention is that by the time it was abolished, the Scots pound had become so devalued it was worth no more than an English shilling

The page *does* equate a scottish pound to 1s8d sterling.

Re: LSD

[neonchameleon.livejournal.com]

That was after they corrected their mistake.

http://www.24carat.co.uk/1848godlessflorin.html (http://www.24carat.co.uk/1848godlessflorin.html)

Still wasn't popular even after the new versions came into circulation.