Circuit that produces a tingling sensation in the fingers.

about

At work, I often go to lunch at this British pub down the street, and they have a bunch of stuff such as British coins in collages on the walls. Messes with my head when I try to make sense (or cents) of their old coin system. ;-)

I read in sci.electronics.design that Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover" wrote (in ) about 'Circuit that produces a tingling sensation in the fingers.', on Sat, 18 Dec 2004:

I don't see the problem.

Why? It wasn't any more complicated than US coinage. We've got pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, dollars (1,5,10,25,50,100). It was just a different series of numbers: (1/2,1,2,6,12,120,240). I left out a few, I guess there was a 3 and 24. Oh, and I forgot about guineas. OK, it was a bit more complicated than US coinage...

The abbreviation for penny was "d" for reasons lost in the mists of time. There was the circular threepenny bit (3d), which when changed from silver to something cheaper became octagonal. And you missed off all the low value slang names, tanner (6d), bob (1s), quid (=A31). Peter

Where's the thruppeny bit? And, I gather, shilling=bob and sixpence=tanner. Also, a 2 bob bit was called never really called a florin, despite the word being on the 2 bob bit, right?

Now, was this the Brit system for money just on Tuesdays? ;)

Jon

I read in sci.electronics.design that peterk wrote (in ) about 'Circuit that produces a tingling sensation in the fingers.', on Sat, 18 Dec 2004:

Well, about 200 years, but not lost. It's from the Latin 'denarius', a silver coin of considerable value. Equally 'shilling' si 'solidus and the £ symbol is from 'libra' - a pound weight, not a coin.

I did think about including them, but I really wanted to concentrate on the counting bases (slightly on-topic). Besides, there are so many of them, especially for a pound, that it would make a very long article.

I read in sci.electronics.design that Jonathan Kirwan wrote (in ) about 'Circuit that produces a tingling sensation in the fingers.', on Sat, 18 Dec 2004:

The word was in use up to about 1940, but even I am not old enough to remember it clearly.

I read in sci.electronics.design that Grant Edwards wrote (in ) about 'Circuit that produces a tingling sensation in the fingers.', on Sat, 18 Dec 2004:

A long time ago, there was a 'mark', whose value varied from time to time but was once 6s 8d, a third of a pound. Queen Victoria minted double-florins (4 shillings), quarter, half and one-third farthings.

Crowns were rarely common items of currency, partly because some people considered them unlucky - big and heavy enough to wear a hole in your pocket and 5 shillings was a lot to lose! They were mostly commemorative coins, as were also two pounds and five pounds gold coins.

Only a bit.

I read in sci.electronics.design that Mike Harding wrote (in ) about 'Circuit that produces a tingling sensation in the fingers.', on Sun, 19 Dec 2004:

How much is 12 feet of half-inch dowel if it's 2d an inch?

Well, I suppose this system would make money interesting to heft in one's mind. Maybe that kept a kind of background semi-unconscious focus on money in the Brit's mind that allowed them to "take over the known world" at some point. ;)

Now that I think on it, having a pound divided into 240 equal parts does mean that the pound can be exactly divided into: halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths, twelfths, fifteenths, sixteenths, twentieths, twenty-fourths, thirtieths, fortieths, forty-eightieths, sixtieths, eightieths, and one-hundred-and-twentieths. By comparison, a prime-divisor-poor decimal system allows only halves, quarters, fifths, tenths, twentieths, twenty-fifths, and fiftieths.

Also, I'm gathering that a farthing was defunct since 1950. So usually there was a halfpenny, one penny, threepence, sixpence, one shilling, two shillings. two shillings and sixpence ('two and six' and sometimes called a half crown), 5 shillings (called a crown, but defunct since WW1?) ten shillings, and one pound.

And in the US, we don't even have Canada's pretty and different colored bills. Although we did have the "bit" which was 12.5 cents (a quarter is called "two bits') and the half-penny, and there was the eagle (I've got a double-eagle "$20" gold coin, for example, from the latter half of the 1800's.)

Hmm. Maybe a system with pairs of all these primes, 2, 3, 5, and just one 7. Base 6300 with 50 British pounds Sterling as equal to 6300 of these units. We could have lots of fun with coins!

Jon

pernews.com>) about 'Circuit that produces a tingling sensation in the

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Whew! And people have the nerve to gripe about 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard, 5280 feet to a mile... Well, apparently someone had a problem, because they changed it all in 1971. :-P (I never heard of a monkey - or a groat for that matter.)

Back on topic, ever use a coin for an electrode on the skin? Tingling sensation..

colored bills.

The new 20 and 50 dollar bills are a lot more colorful than tne 'old' ones that came out just a few years earlier. The peach colored paper looks more colorful than the old bleah paper. The 'holographic' 20 and

Since the $100 bills came out first, there was some confusion when the $20s came out. I recall paying for a $15 purchase with a new $20 and getting $85 in change. I didn't keep it, nor the $40 change for a $10 purchase later, but when I got change of $16 for a $14 dollar purchase, I kept it. Stupidity tax.

Very good Jon.

I grew up in the UK with (most) of the above currency but have lived in Australia (and a few other places) for many years now. As complex and heavy as that old coinage was it had a character I have never come across with any other coinage. Occasionally I open my old tin with pennies, thruppenny bits et al and see an individuality with which a 20c piece can never compare :)

At junior school 12 pennies to a shilling was always useful when we had to calculate the price of one egg if a dozen eggs cost 3 shillings and sixpence - bloody useless at all other times though :)

Mike Harding

Two shillings Mr Woodgate.

DON'T! Brings back bad memories! :)

Mike Harding

wrote

'old'

paper

and

$20s

getting $85

later,

Last week the teller bitch at the credit union tried to shortchange me. I asked for and signed for $600, and after she handed it to me I counted it and I got $500, so I counted it again - same, and I handed it back and said you had better count it. Yep, a hundred short. I wished her a Merry Christmas as I left. ;-) Be sure you count your money before you step away from the teller!

I read in sci.electronics.design that Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover" wrote (in ) about 'Circuit that produces a tingling sensation in the fingers.', on Mon, 20 Dec 2004:

It's only a 0.8 dB error, for goodness sake! (;-)

... snip ...

Make sure you do it without removing it from his/her sight, i.e. right on the counter. Normally well trained tellers count it twice, once for themselves, and once while transferring it to you. The fact that you got your money indicates to me that either you didn't remove it from sight, or that your nomenclature is undeserved. The latter is probably true anyway.

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Heh. Yeah, but hey, it's _my_ 0.8 dB!!

And this isn't the only time I've been shorted by them recently. I got several rolls of dollar coins, and a couple rolls came 2 short, and another came with four quarters. Then another roll came with a Mexican