I think we x-posted, Jim. No worries.
Sometimes I miss having powers... Oh. Oh! I know what this is! This is peer pressure! Any second now you're gonna make me smoke tobacco and--and have drugs!
Anya ,'Showtime'
All Ogle, No Cash -- It's Not Just Annoying, It's Un-American
Discussion of episodes currently airing in Un-American locations (anything that's aired in Australia is fair game), as well as anything else the Un-Americans feel like talking about or we feel like asking them. Please use the show discussion threads for any current-season discussion.
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amych - Jul 09, 2003 6:28:30 am PDT #5566 of 9843
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
Betsy HP - Jul 09, 2003 6:29:47 am PDT #5567 of 9843
If I only had a brain...
I remember how much it confused me when I was reading E. Nesbit. And some time in my childhood I ordered a wooden doll from Pollack's and did my best to convert U.S. dollars to L.s.D and got it all wrong.
Nilly - Jul 09, 2003 6:30:51 am PDT #5568 of 9843
Swouncing
A pound was twenty shillings (a guinea twenty-one)
That was the one that always confused me the most, especially when reading Edith Nesbit, because until I finally could come around to a guinea having pretty much the same value of a pound, it didn't.
[Edit: E. Nesbit x-post with Betsy, at least I was in good company]
Angus G - Jul 09, 2003 6:31:17 am PDT #5569 of 9843
Roguish Laird
And in Australia, when we decimalised our old pound turned into two dollars, so for us 1 shilling = 10 cents.
Jim - Jul 09, 2003 6:31:24 am PDT #5570 of 9843
Ficht nicht mit Der Raketemensch!
Props for mentioning E Nesbit. My favourite author as a child (along with Ransome).
Betsy HP - Jul 09, 2003 6:40:00 am PDT #5571 of 9843
If I only had a brain...
Also props for mentioning poor old Planty Pal.
moonlit - Jul 09, 2003 7:00:32 am PDT #5572 of 9843
"When the world's run by fools it's the duty of intelligence to disobey." Martin Firrell
In Aus we also had a Florin which equalled 20 pence.
We had ha'penny, penny, threepence, sixpence, shilling, florin, and a crown, which equalled 5 shillings.
Nutty - Jul 09, 2003 7:07:26 am PDT #5573 of 9843
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
So, okay, it was the bobs and crowns and guineas that I couldn't figure out. Why was there both a pound and a guinea, if they were so close in value? Was one the elder, and on its way out, while the other was on its way in? Especially considering the guinea works with odd/prime factors like 3 and 7, while the pound is a nice, likeable 2x2x5 nominator.
I mean, if you're gonna have money, have conveniently mathy money! Good, even fractions!
(M-W explains the "guinea" connection -- gold, Africa, vague, hand-wavy etymological link -- but not the logic of settling a divisible currency at an odd number.)
§ ita § - Jul 09, 2003 7:08:56 am PDT #5574 of 9843
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
If you're going to have weights and measures, have conveniently mathy weights and measures!
People are just weird. There's no accounting for 'em.
Angus G - Jul 09, 2003 7:15:41 am PDT #5575 of 9843
Roguish Laird
IIRC, guineas were only used to price posh, luxury items--ie the price of a pair of silk gloves might be in guineas, or the account of a Harley Street doctor, but not the price of a leg of lamb. But that doesn't really explain thre reason for them.