speaking of british speak -- question re: money

[richard_smedley]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, Marita Jan <maritajan at y...> wrote:
> 
> I watched Vera Drake last night and I have a question about money. 
At one
> point, a woman says she was told "two pounds" and another woman replies
> that the first woman is incorrect, it's "two guineas."  American that I
> am, I've always assumed when I've read British novels that a pound WAS a
> guinea.  What's the difference in amount of money?


Hi there,

Before decimalisation there were 20 shillings in a pound.
A guinea is 21 shillings. (iow a guinea is worth 5 per cent
more than a pound.)

Guineas are still used in a few places such as the bloodstock
market - and for racing prizes. In my local pub, if a round
came to, say, GBP10.50, the barman would probably ask for
ten guineas - but I know of no other barman who does this.

The Guinea was actually a gold coin issued in the 17th and
18th centuries. It's value varied with the price of gold until
it was fixed, early in the 18th century, at 21 bob (shillings).
A pound coin was called a sovereign, whereas pound notes are 
referred to as quids.

A shilling was made up of 12 pence, which meant that money
used to be so much easier to divide up between various
numbers of people than this decimal nonsense with which
we've been saddled :-/

 - Richard
(Still suffering from an unexpected 600 feet climb at the 
weekend, because I hadn't noticed that the guide book was 
in metres =^/  )

-- 

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