Re: [Change topic -> OT] Pence/Pennies

From: John Travell (john_at_jomatech.com)
Date: 07/30/03 

Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 20:49:08 +0100

<norm.raphael@metso.com> wrote in message
news:OFECF21BC1.1DE4DF22-ON85256D73.004D7A9A@metso.com...
>
> I thought that was tuppence, thruppence, or is/was that slang?
> I also thought pence was the denomination name for old pence, and that
> new pence became interchangable with penny, pennies.
> Pence, therefore, like moose, is both singular and plural.
>

Perhaps just a personal point of view, but I am old enough to have made
extensive use of the pre-decimalisation currency in the UK.
I would agree that 'pennies' is correct in the example given, "there are
four pennies on the table", if, but only if, you are referring to just that,
a number of coins all of one penny value.
We would not, for example, quote the price of a meat pie as 73 pennies. We
would specify 73 pence. Maybe a pint of beer as 2 pounds 48 pence (about 4
dollars, and yes, some are even more expensive!).
We would however, say 'a pound and a penny' if it were the appropriate
price.

So.
Pence is all values between 2 and 99,
Penny is only for the singular item, and
Pennies is only for multiple instances of the unit value coin. 

--
John Travell
Independent VMS crashdump analyst.
john@jomatech.com
+44-(0)23-92552229
http://www.jomatech.com/
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.504 / Virus Database: 302 - Release Date: 24/07/2003

Relevant Pages

  • Re: [Change topic -> OT] Pence/Pennies
    ... >> I also thought pence was the denomination name for old pence, ... >> new pence became interchangable with penny, pennies. ... > We would not, for example, quote the price of a meat pie as 73 pennies. ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: Do U or dont U have a small cell phone? Good reception?
    ... penny), represented by the initals of Latin coin names Liber, Solidus, ... we got a New Penny, symbol p, 100 to the pound instead of the 240 old ... To distinguish between the old and New pennies during the change- ... The conversion of pence to cents is exactly the same as converting pounds ...
    (uk.people.silversurfers)
  • Re: Trig test
    ... old pennies in sixpenny lots" ... pence is a pound". ...
    (uk.rec.sheds)
  • Re: Bug/Gross InEfficiency in HeathFields fgetline program
    ... If you sell the SW that is provably at fault in such cases then the company could pursue you for damages. ... The British Inland Revenue doesn't care about odd pennies. ... On certain returns you are *required* to specify pounds and pence and the pence are *required* to be .00, and they specify the rounding that you are *required* to use. ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • Re: onax whinge
    ... have chanced from Housen to Houses quite recently (that's a second -en ... And what about Pence? ... tell children "Pick up those Pennies from the floor". ... special type of plural used in a special grammatical construction. ...
    (uk.rec.sheds)