this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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Today I Learned

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Also, that the Sterling is the longest continuous use currency in the world.

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[–] maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone 59 points 2 days ago (5 children)

The accounting system of dividing one pound into twenty shillings, a shilling into twelve pence, and a penny into four farthings was adopted[when?] from the livre carolingienne system introduced by Charlemagne to the Frankish Empire.[citation needed] The penny was abbreviated to "d", from denarius, the Roman equivalent of the penny; the shilling to "s" from solidus (written with a long s, ſ, later evolving into a simple slash, /); and the pound to "L" (subsequently £) from Libra or Livre.[when?]

I'm out.

[–] ValiantDust@feddit.org 31 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

You're quitting early. That's not even half the fun of predecimal British currency. There is so much more:

collapsed inline media

Edit: Well, that didn't work. Let me see, if I can fix it.

Edit2: or maybe it did? I can see the image in the browser, just not in the app. Here is the link, in case someone else can't see it: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/British_predecimal_currency.svg

[–] Fuck_u_spez_@sh.itjust.works 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

SVG is a vector image format that probably isn't compatible with every Lemmy client. Here's a rasterized version from a screenshot:

collapsed inline media

[–] ValiantDust@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago

Ah thanks, I always wondered why I can see some images but not others.

[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I got me head stuck in the cubboard!

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 25 points 2 days ago

I saw an interview when they switched to 100 pennies to a pound. People were going on about how the old system was so much easier and made so much sense, and the new decimalized system was weird and didn't make sense. It sounded exactly like when people say imperial is easy and metric is hard.

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 18 points 2 days ago

The joke about wizard money at the start of Harry Potter makes so much more sense now.

[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I guess simplicity and user friendly weren't big concerns back then.

[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 3 points 2 days ago

I suspect a lot of traditions and dealing with people that never learned to count beyond their fingers

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

written with a [long s](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s "Long s"), ſ, later evolving into a simple [slash]

Internet sarcasm should take note.

/

[–] ada@piefed.blahaj.zone 32 points 2 days ago (2 children)

If the only significance of 240 sterlings is that it weighs a pound, then it seems likely the pound would have been a pound, whatever number of sterlings it happened to be...

[–] Worx@lemmynsfw.com 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It used to be 240 pence to a pound, before decimalisation (when it was updated to 100p to a pound because we were no longer insane)

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Implying Brits are no longer insane?

[–] Worx@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Not in the same way, certainly. Several of us are even using the metric system now!

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

So a few milligrams less insane then? :P

[–] ADTJ@feddit.uk 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Like calling the numbering system base 10.

It would be base 10 regardless of the number of units

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

But what if I like counting by making hash marks on a stick?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unary_numeral_system

[–] __Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

Then 10 is when you need a second stick

[–] Supervisor194@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"Give me 240 Sterlings for a Pound," you'd say. Now where was I... ah, yes. The important thing was that I had a kipper in my waistcoat, which was the fashion at the time...

[–] bricklove@midwest.social 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The amount of slander against highly divisible numbers is this thread is appalling. How are you gonna split the bill with 2 friends with only 2 and 5 as factors? Virgin 10 vs Chad 240

[–] miridius@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

The only prime factor that 240 has which 10 doesn't is 3, so using 240 only really helps for multiples of 3

[–] HamsterRage@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My BIL still gives his weight in "stone". As in, "I'm 12 stone, 7 lbs and 3 ounces".

I joke with him that only makes sense to people who are comfortable with Pounds, Shillings and Pence, too.

It all makes perfect sense

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The American system of exclusively using lbs for body weight really gets me. Is 180 lb heavy, or what?

[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Is metric £ not counted as a new currency? Seems like you have to go through a lot of the same efforts as you would moving to a new currency.

[–] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

No, because the £ didn't change, it was just divided up differently.

A pre-decimal £ is the same as a decimal £.

You could technically still pay in Shillings until they redesigned the 5p.

[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My grandparents still called them shillings sometimes, but been a long time since I've heard that!

I'm only old enough to remember the old 10 and 50p

[–] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I vaguely recall the decimal ha'penny. I am old.

[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Yeah, to be fair it wur'all fields back then, far as the eye

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 days ago

In Austria we also had the 'Schilling' before the Euro

I'm still not sure how this 2 currencies are connected - at least by name...

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 6 points 2 days ago

And supposedly the German mark got it's name because the pound was too much for them so they made a mark at the appropriate place to make it smaller and used that instead.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago

Does sterling imply silver? I did the numbers and apparently an actual pound of silver is now 422 pounds.