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How to pronounce pre-decimal English money
Pounds shillings and pence: the basis of pre-decimal money
As explained more fully in the page on coins, until 1971, British money was divided into pounds, shillings and pence, and pence were subdivided:
One pound, pronounced the same today as in the past, was divided into 20 shillings.
Each shilling was divided into 12 pennies
One penny was divided into two halfpennies, each pronounced "haypenny"
After decimalisation one pound was divided into 100 new pennies
making:
1 new penny = 2.4 old pennies.
For rough calculations of equivalencies, a new penny was often taken as 2.5 old pennies i.e. 2½
old pennies
which was easier to work with. The term 'new penny' soon became just a penny,
and more than one 'new penny' became the just the 'pence' that we know today.
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 the old 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 and pence in South East England - examples
Pounds, shillings and pence regional pronunciations
Guest contribution
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.
Pounds, shillings and pence tongue twisters - plays on words
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 = to hit with a quick light blow
Guest contribution
Tongue twister
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
This contribution reminded me that my father often came out with the slightly different following version.
Can you say this quickly?
A regional variation?
Your brother Bob owes my brother Bob a bob. And if your brother Bob doesn't give 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
There were probably other variations which show how common the informal slang for a shilling was.
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'. 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.
Guest contribution
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.
Guest contribution which is TRUE
People's opinions of 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 pounds 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. Do the maths:
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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