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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Wow!!! Rhubarb!!! That explains why I have the word "finnig" in my brain meaning "zero." Only it didn't quite mean "zero," but pretty close.
What exactly does this "pfennig" mean? I say it all the time meaning the equivalent of "zilch," but now I realize it means something a little different!!!
This is a wonderful board. Eventually you'll iron out all the wrinkles in your understanding if you stick around long enough.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
It has always been pronounced "haypenny" over here, so far as I'm aware, although quite often with the initial "h" dropped. Which makes some sense of the following tale:-
In London Zoo, a new monkey was born, much to the delight of the whole troupe in the enclosure, and to the keepers who tended and cared for them. Unfortunately, this little primate was deformed, having been born without any knees.
The keepers were most distressed about this, fearing that the little fellow would die, until the youngest and newest keeper, a youngster just out of school, had a brilliant idea.
"'Ere," he said to the Head Keeper, "I know what we could do to 'elp the por li'l bleeder!" (London zoo keepers tend to speak in this sort of language, and the swear-word at the end is accepted as a term of endearment in this context!)
"Wot's that, then, son?" asked the Head Keeper.
"Gi's a penny, then," the youngster said, "An' I'll nip rahnd the shop an' get 'em to change it for two 'ayp'nnies."
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
penny - O.E. pening, penig "penny," from P.Gmc.
*panninggaz. The English coin was originally set at
one-twelfth of a shilling and was of silver, later copper, then
bronze. There are two plural forms: pennies of individual
coins, pence collectively. In translations it rendered various
foreign coins of small denomination, esp. L. denarius,
whence comes its abbreviation d. As Amer.Eng. colloquial
for cent, it is recorded from 1889. Pennyweight is O.E.
penega gewiht, originally the weight of a silver penny. The
herb pennyroyal (1530) is altered by folk etymology from
Anglo-Fr. puliol real; the first element ultimately from L.
puleglum "thyme." Penny-ante (adj.) "cheap, trivial" is first
attested 1935, from poker. Penny dreadful "cheap and gory
fiction" dates from c.1870.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618 |
how do you prounounce ha'penny?
I've always pronounced it ayp-nee, as in the zoo story.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Thank you for illuminating that, Doc... until you said it, I didn't get Rhuby's story AT ALL!!!  
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
take you on the time machine to February 2001
Didn't feel like digging all the way through that thread but this line popped out at me. [I]t is the only coin to have its nickname embossed on the coin itself. I wonder if it has been pointed out that dime is not a nickname; it is the official name of the denomination. We have mil, cent, dime, dollar and eagle, if memory serves.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
I'm not sure if anyone cares but I remember reading last time at the Royal Canadian Mint website that in Canada the coins don't have nicknames, even though we commonly call them by their USn nicknames. They're officially just the one-cent, five-cent, ten-cent, twenty-five-cent pieces, and I suppose dollar and two-dollar coins (in everyday life these are always called a loonie and a toonie/twonie - the spelling of the last one hasn't really settled down yet).
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
I didn't get Rhuby's story AT ALL!!! That does you great credit, FB - I'm glad there is at least one person on this board whose sanity and inner purity protects her from such evils. 
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