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How to pronounce pre-decimal English money
This page explains how pre-decimal money was spoken in everyday life with contributions on regional variations. Features are tongue twisters in the old currency and true, amusing stories about the changeover from the old to the new. For equivalents of the old money and the pre-decimal see the page on pre-decimal coins.
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By the webmaster, based on living and working with pre-decimal currency over many years
Modern mis-pronunciation of pre-decimal money
In various modern period dramas and television programmes on how people used to live, the actors and presenters usually refer to pre-decimal money in ways which show that they were too young to have lived with it, i.e. too young to have heard it spoken around them and spoken it themselves in their everyday lives.
One particular example from a popular actress and presenter concerned 5d, ie five old pennies which she pronounced like the post-1971 money, i.e. as the two words "five pence". In practice everyone in the south east of England said it as a single word "fifep'nce" with the "fife ..." rhyming with "life" and th e in pence dropped. This was not a matter of class or education - simply generally accepted custom. There were of course regional variations.
How to pronounce pounds, shillings, pence and farthings - examples
Regional pronunciations
How we used to pronounce the old money in Northern Ireland
We in Northern Ireland pronounced 5d as fippence, the i as in fib.
Paul Mc Cann
There must have been other regional variations.
Tongue twisters - plays on words in pre-decimal currency
None of what follows would need explanation to anyone who lived with pre-decimal currency but, for a modern reader, explanation is necessary:
To appreciate the following tongue-twister you need to understand three meanings of the word 'Bob'.
Bob = an informal but widely used term for a shilling
Bob = a common nickname for the name Robert
Bob = hit with a quick light blow
Can you say this quickly?
Your brother Bob owes my brother Bob a bob. And if your brother Bob doesn't give my brother Bob that bob that your brother Bob owes my brother Bob, my brother Bob'll give your brother Bob a bob in the eye.
The webmaster's father
Tongue twister regional variation
Your Bob owes our Bob a bob. And if your Bob doesn't give our Bob that bob that your Bob owes our Bob, our Bob'll give your Bob a bob o'er t'nose.
I learned to say it very quickly and still baffle my grandkids with it.
Geoff Partridge
A rhyming slogan for offering occasional work in pre-decimal currency
Once again, this example relies on the informal slang 'bob'.
Scouts and maybe other teenagers would canvass for work like washing cars and mowing lawns quoting the rhyming slogan: Bob a Job. There was, I remember, a 'Bob a Job Week' too. The more formal 'A Shilling a Job' or 'Shilling a Job Week' would hardly have caught on as readily.
What a measure of inflation '5p a Job' would be now!
Another play on words in pre-decimal money
This play on words relies on the mix of how the old pre-decimal money was spoken and how it was written. It is about a meal costing 10/6. As the first of the above boxes shows, 10/6 meant 'ten shillings and sixpence' and was pronounced 'ten and six'. Also 1/4 meant 'a shilling and fourpence' and was pronounced 'one and four'. Sixpence was called 'a tanner'. The meal in the following play on words has to be described as 'expensive' because 10/6 was a lot of money at the time.
A mix of spoken and written pre-decimal money
A man went to a restaurant and had an expensive meal. When he asked the waiter how much he owed, the reply was, "ten and six" ["10/6"].
The man replied "10 and 6 - well, 10 and 6 is 16. And 16 pence is 1/4 [1 and 4]. And 1 and 4 is 5. So it's fifepence (5 pence)."
"Here's a tanner - keep the change."!
Geoff Partridge
An amusing true story about the new decimal currency
This story is not about pronouncing old money, but since it is amusing with the hindsight of today and also comes from Geoff Partridge, it fits well here. You need to know that D Day was not only the term for the Normandy Landings in 1944. Much later it also stood for Decimal Day, 15th Feb 1971, the day when decimal currency became legal in the UK.
True and amusing stories about the new decimal money
On D Day, the day that UK currency went Decimal - not the D Day of the World War 2 invasion of Normandy - I went to buy a paper in our local newsagents in Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury. I believe the cost was 'eightpence ha'penny' in the old money.
Realising it was 'D Day', I said "Oh, I suppose it's 3 and a half new pence now?"
"No" the newsagent replied, "We're not bothering with this new money. Nobody in Ravensthorpe's bothering."
Fortunately there was a transition period before shillings and pence were phased out completely.
Geoff Partridge
Comment: Was the newsagent just being canny?
The newsagent could have had good reason for refusing the decimal equivalent.
3.5p = 8.4d is slightly LESS than the original 8.5d
So the newsagent would have been slightly out of pocket accepting the new decimal money.
After all, Dewsbury is in Yorkshire - and Yorkshire people, like the Welsh (such as me) and Scots, are what the Scots call 'canny' (careful, especially with money).
Ron Haller-Williams
If you can add anything to this page or provide a photo, I would be pleased if you would contact me.
sources: early 20th century material
sources: ww2 home front and other material
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