OMFG

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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:59 pm

Mug:

The penny is the smallest coin. It is worth 1/100th of the dollar. The official name is the "Cent". I suspect that it comes some how from "pence", but what do I know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_%28United_States_coin%29

Does not really provide anything useful, but it is a link none the less Confused

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:51 pm

The Man wrote:

Yes, but after we got home, my parents would stab us to death with a dull spoon and then dance on our grave singing hallelujah!

And just to keep it clear I am going to call you all "Bruce" so there is no confusion.

And you try to tell young people today about that - they won't believe you!

BTW, is there trouble down at mill?

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 12:06 am

Oh yeah youngin', that's pure luxury you got there. Back in my day we had to trudge through waist deep snow in our bare feet for 10 miles to get to school and the sun was still not up, when we got there our teacher scolded us for being 2 minutes and beat us till we were half dead. You got Mud if you were really good, that was luxury. We got lovely wood shavings for our lunch. Then we had to go home the snow was shoulder height and we had trudge back through the snow for the 10miles home where our parents would give us a good beating for not being home before the sun went down...

So stop complainin' youngin' and HTFU, you're living in pure luxury.

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:47 am

Reaper, do you even have snow?

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:54 am

I think you are going to turn out quite alright Ex. Most people go "Yeah" when they find out that school has been canceled. I know you are not complaining about the two rides, you would have done that anyway. You are troubled about your lost opportunity to learn in school and experience things in your work study. Carry on soldier.

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:27 am

The Man wrote:

... 1/100th of the dollar. ... the "Cent". I suspect that it comes some how from "pence", but what do I know ....

"Cent" comes from the Latin word for 100, centum. 100 as in 100 units to 1 dollar.

You can also find "cent" (= 100) in "century," "centimeter," "centigrade," etc., but not in "center."

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:37 am

Also centaur?

Oh wait, that is Greek, not Latin. Darn how being trylingual is a hard thing... Shocked

I try to be lingual. Very Happy

I found one, centurion (which I thought was Greek, but it is Latin). This applies in a round about way to the OP's topic too. Cool

EDITED to add something

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:53 am

ParaNoid wrote:

... centurion ...

That's a Roman military rank, an officer in charge of 100 men (= captain).

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

~ kleindoofy,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAdHEwiAy8

Edit: I have to add this one as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPGb4STRfKw&feature=related

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:37 am

@KD: Shhhhhh.... nobody wants the Americans to know their money is actually metric. Very Happy

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:07 am

We noticed.

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:34 pm

kleindoofy wrote:

"Cent" comes from the Latin word for 100, centum. 100 as in 100 units to 1 dollar.

KD: Sorry for not being precise... but the question is where did the term PENNY come from.... I was pointing out the technical name for the coin is "cent", but I still have no idea where penny comes from... maybe George Washington had a girlfriend named Penny?

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:59 pm

I get the feeling that it comes from the Cent's UK equivalent, the one pence, or one penny. Some sort of colonial hangover.

I just wondered why the Americans had adopted the term....

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:59 pm

Quote:

In the United States and Canada, "penny" is normally used to refer to the coin - the quantity of money is a "cent." Elsewhere in the English-speaking world, the plural of "penny" is "pence" when referring to a quantity of money and "pennies" when referring to a number of coins[1]. Thus a coin worth five times as much as one penny is worth five pence, but "five pennies" means five coins, each of which is a penny.

Quote:

In the 9th century, Charlemagne declared that 240 pennies or Pfennigs should be minted from a pound of silver. A single coin thus contained 1.5 to 2 grams of silver.

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

Quote:

The British Penny is etymologically related to the 'Pfennig', which was also model for the Finnish Penni (1860-2001), the Polish fenig (1917-1918) and the Fening of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1998-today).

The etymology of the Pfennig is not completely clear, but seems to rely on the way coins were minted during the Middle Ages: the base material were thin flat metal discs. The value was embossed from one side, creating a pan (German Pfanne) -like coin.

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

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:10 pm

Ok guys, conversations about pennies are a longshot away fro the original rant this thread presented. IBTL.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Well, I was going to split this thread into one about trudging to school (which I think was the original topic) and the other into coinage talk.

It hurt my head to try to figure out what went where.

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:22 pm

Well I trudged to school to pick up a penny TS.... does that help? Laughing

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:58 pm

It'll sort itself out TS, it's an informative thread closely related to school work anyway, Ex has learnt more from this thread than he? would have by going to school for the day anyway

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:28 pm

We must be in the same area Ex b/c there was a school delay for the rain where I am (plus you mentioned the metro bus). Of course, work started on time. Evil or Very Mad

Dammit, didn't they see it was raining outside??? How can people possibly be expected to get to work on time when it's raining?

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

@ TSnerd
dont worry we're getting an educumation like wot I got

I didn't know about Charlemagne and 240 pennies.

My son didn't trudge to school yesterday as he missed the bus so "mum's taxi" was called into service in the sleet.

Be glad we didn't start on Fahrenheit vs Centigrade.

You all do know that the Yorkshire men sketch originated in the "At last the 1948 show "
(wins points in pub trivia that bit of knowledge )

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:38 am

@ EX 1st post raining

that sounds up to par for me...

where do you live...I am in south texas... its feb and the temp is in the 80's today... if we get a little frost on the ground they call it snow and the gov't buildings are shut down as well as the schools... people can't drive without wrecks...

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:23 am

Nanny Ogg wrote:

The pounds shillings and pence was pre 1971 ( ? )
It was also known as LSD
We now have pence and pounds
100 pence = one pound
10pence is equal to one (old ) shilling
Most of the rest of Europe have Euros

Let a colonial set the record straight. The Aussies changed from pounds/shillings/penny to dollars and cents in 1965 or 66. Then New Zealand changed in 1967 ("July the 10th, this year!") Both countries used the 10 shilling as their decimal dollar equivalent, two dollars to the pound, 120 pennies became 100 cents. All very straight forward.

When the UK changed to decimal coinage, it was feared that breaking the pound into two units could have an adverse effect on the exchange rate. So the UK retained the pound and their major unit and one pound was made up of 100 pence or new pence. As this meant that as 240 pennies was now only 100 pence and every pence was 2.4 old pennies, a half=pence was introduced - note that this is the equivalent size to the Aussie/NZ cent.

When the new coinage was introduced, the name of the smallest unit changed from penny to pence or new pence to distinquish between the two coins of different values.

And, Nanny Ogg, 10pence is NOT equal to one (old ) shilling. 10 pence is equal to 2 shillings - its one/tenth of a pound, one tenth of 240 pennies is 24 pennies/2 shillings.

And just to further confuse our American bretheren, other units of the pound/shilling/penny days were the farthing, happenny, florin, half crown, crown and the guinea. The guinea was one pound one shilling/21 shillings, so is the equivalent to one pound 5 pence in the new currency.

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:26 am

Oh, further to the Centurian being an officer in charge of 100 soldiers.

My favourite word with a latin root is decimate.

When an Roman army unit performed badly in battle, it was disciplined. All the soldiers were lined up along the edge of a bridge or aquaduct and every tenth man was pushed over the side to his death - decimal, decile, decimate all come from the same root word, one thent.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Oh Nelson . You're SO right
Sorry for my mistake

10p = 2/-
The tiny wee 5p coin is equal to 1/-

It was a long time ago. In the days of flares, bubblegum pop music and miners strikes.
Funny thought.

We've had decimal coinage all this time but dont have nicknames for the coins.
2/6 was half a crown , a shilling a Bob, 6d a tanner and 3d a thripney bit

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:29 am

Quote:

My favourite word with a latin root is decimate.

When an Roman army unit performed badly in battle, it was disciplined. All the soldiers were lined up along the edge of a bridge or aquaduct and every tenth man was pushed over the side to his death.

It's a frequently abused word that some writers assume to be a synonym for "slaughter" - cf. the author of a history of the Stuka dive-bomber who described a bomb hit on a troop ship that "decimated about half the passengers". Rolling Eyes

Another author described a unit as being "literally decimated" when only one in ten survived. Rolling Eyes