Price Wrong?

[Alpha2]

The "penny" just seems to be a nickname same as dollars being "bucks". Besides there are too many sayings and phrases that use the word to get rid of it.

 

[slygamer]

I think if you used 1 cent, 10 cent or 25 cent names, Americans would have no idea what you were talking about.

In Australia, we make sense. 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent. That is what we call them, because that is what they are.

 

[Sphinxter]

It's bizarre how you still have British pennies in the USA even though you changed to the cent/dollar system.

(goes to google to understand).

Edit: Back from google. Still no idea why you still call them a penny.

British pennies have Abraham Lincoln's picture on them?

 

[Uh...Clem]

I think if you used 1 cent, 10 cent or 25 cent names, Americans would have no idea what you were talking about.

Yes, we would. The coin is typically called a penny but when talking about an amount, the term cents is used. "This item costs ten cents. Do you have ten pennies on you?" would be used just as commonly as "This item costs ten cents. Do you have ten cents on you?" The reason for this is just historical habit, I'd guess. With larger coins like the dime or quarter, the terms ten cents and twenty-five cents are used exclusively. You will never hear someone referring to them as ten penny or twenty-five penny coins.

Unfortunately, although our monetary system is base 10, our measurement systems are still base English except in technical/scientific fields where they are, thankfully, metric. Years ago, I was on a plane from England to the US and heard a Brit comment to his companion that various signs near the aircraft gates were still posted in feet. My US shoe size 12 foot is only 10.5 inches long, so the mental conversion is always a pain. ;-)

 

[SomeGuy99]

It's bizarre how you still have British pennies in the USA even though you changed to the cent/dollar system.

(goes to google to understand).

Edit: Back from google. Still no idea why you still call them a penny.

British pennies have Abraham Lincoln's picture on them?

Just incase you weren't joking: They infact have the Queen's head on them.

 

[SomeGuy99]

You will never hear someone referring to them as ten penny or twenty-five penny coins.

Well in England we call them 'pence'. We have:

1 Pence
2 Pence
10 Pence
20 Pence
50 Pence

Also shorted to just 'p' as in:

1p, 2p ... 50p

And a pound is nicknamed a 'quid', as in 'ten quid'. A five or ten pound note may also be called a 'fiver' or 'tenner'.

 

[WizardStan]

It's bizarre how you still have British pennies in the USA even though you changed to the cent/dollar system.

(goes to google to understand).

Edit: Back from google. Still no idea why you still call them a penny.

British pennies have Abraham Lincoln's picture on them?

Just incase you weren't joking: They infact have the Queen's head on them.

It's just a name. Why shouldn't they call the one cent piece a penny? They call the 5 cent piece a nickel and has never actually been made of nickel
(It's a 3:1 copper-nickel alloy, unlike the Canadian 5 cent piece which was actually pure nickel)

 

[davidgro]

It's bizarre how you still have British pennies in the USA even though you changed to the cent/dollar system.

(goes to google to understand).

Edit: Back from google. Still no idea why you still call them a penny.

British pennies have Abraham Lincoln's picture on them?

Just incase you weren't joking: They infact have the Queen's head on them.

It's just a name. Why shouldn't they call the one cent piece a penny? They call the 5 cent piece a nickel and has never actually been made of nickel
(It's a 3:1 copper-nickel alloy, unlike the Canadian 5 cent piece which was actually pure nickel)

Now that I think about it, I guess with one exception we just have a clear separation between the name of a coin (usually historical in nature) and the value it has:
The penny is the 1 cent coin, nickle is 5 cents, dime 10, quarter 25, but guess how much the fifty-cent piece (a rarely seen but still minted coin also known as a half dollar) is worth. We also have one dollar coins but only collectors care about them. They are generally referred to by the name of the person on them. I'm sure Wikipedia tells all about how each coin got its name.

 

[SomeGuy99]

Now that I think about it, I guess with one exception we just have a clear separation between the name of a coin (usually historical in nature) and the value it has:
The penny is the 1 cent coin, nickle is 5 cents, dime 10, quarter 25, but guess how much the fifty-cent piece (a rarely seen but still minted coin also known as a half dollar) is worth. We also have one dollar coins but only collectors care about them. They are generally referred to by the name of the person on them. I'm sure Wikipedia tells all about how each coin got its name.

A fiddy cent is rare? Well I learn something today, thanks. B)

 

[davidgro]

A fiddy cent is rare? Well I learn something today, thanks. B)

Yup, not rare in the sense of worth-more-than-50-cents (like comics, they have to be virtually perfect condition for that) but most people and businesses don't keep them on hand to spend them, so you don't see a lot unless you seek them: Banks tend to have them if you ask.

 

[Tom`]

A fiddy cent is rare? Well I learn something today, thanks. B)

Yup, not rare in the sense of worth-more-than-50-cents (like comics, they have to be virtually perfect condition for that) but most people and businesses don't keep them on hand to spend them, so you don't see a lot unless you seek them: Banks tend to have them if you ask.

Indeed. I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually seen a fifty-cent piece circulated.

Dollar coins are considerably more common than fifty-cent pieces, though. Dollar coins are very commonly received from change machines, and occasionally you'll get them as change at stores and so forth. Of course, you can get those at the bank too. Not many vending machines take them, though, which is one reason they're under-utilized.