English units of measure (and a touch of Brit lit)

[dungrollin]

> Carol wrote:
> 
> > But I hope that Britain is content with 100 pence to the pound
and doesn't convert to the Euro. Hold on to your money! And your
history, your literature, and your language. It would be sad, very
sad, if they passed into the keeping of the former colonies.
> 
David:
> What, exactly, is the threat to our history, language, and 
> literature?  Hollywood?
> 
> > Carol, who fears that Europe, and especially France, is falling 
into another Dark Age
> 
David:
> Goodness me!  How?

You're a brave man, I didn't dare ask for fear of the answer.  But 
now that you have, I'll admit to being intrigued. And wondering what 
it is that France has done wrong...

As for the money issue, I've never understood why people think it's 
something worth conserving for the sake of it.  Our current currency 
is only thirty years old, after all, and considering how irritated 
everyone was when Britain shifted from pounds shillings and pence, I 
wonder that the decimalised pound has slipped into the national 
heart so easily. There are plenty of reasons for and against Britain 
joining the Euro, but sentimentality for the pound is (IMHO) the 
least convincing.

Which, of course, may not have been what Carol meant anyway. 

Still curious about the other bits too,
Dungrollin