Can someone explain the British monetary system to me...?

Question

would like to know the slang terms as well...like how much is a bob etc. I posted this in the Royalty section because I figure it is read by many English folks...we have the BBC here in the States on satelite tv as well as BBC News and it would help me to follow things better

Man...I asked for it, didn't I (lol)

thanks so much for your time to explain...it took some time to write all that out

Answer 1

First of all money can be referred to as:-
Dosh, Lolly, Spondoolies, Moolah, Readies, Sovs & Filthy Lucre.

The British monetary sytem is decimal and has been since 1971, and consist of pounds & pence (100 pence in a pound)

A pound is often referred to as a 'quid' (or squid) or a 'nicker'

Five pounds is a 'fiver' or 'bluey'

Ten pounds is a 'tenner'

twenty five pounds is a 'pony'

Hundred pounds is a 'ton'

Five hundred pounds is a 'monkey

A thousand pounds is a 'grand'

With coins and pence...

a 'Bob' is a 'shilling' which is worth five pence

'fifty pee' 'ten bob', 'a ten bob bit', 'ten shilling' is fifty pence

However, depending on where you live, people have lots of different names.....many rhyming slang....

Answer 2

Terms like bob are now obsolete since the change to decimal currency in the 1970s.
The biggest unit was the pound which was divided into 20 shillings which were themselves divided in 12 pennies. The penny was further divided into halfpennies and farthings ( a quarter of a penny).
The bob was the term for a shilling, there was also a half crown which was a coin worth two shillings and sixpence and a crown worth five shillings. Half a bar was a ten shilling note. A twoshilling coin was called a florin. There were also coins for sixpence and threepence.
Now the currency is formed of the pound which has 100 pence. Shillings have gone.

Answer 3

the queen takes part of every coin and bill to support the royals life style. Why not? They have one hand in every brit's pocket and the other hand over every brit's mouth, so there's nobody to complain and criticize, with the weapon of immediate ostracization in society if anyone tries.