I know that “s.” refers to “shillings” and “d.” to “pennies”, and I believe that “6d.” is “sixpence”.

Anyone?

If you have a source, all the better!

  • SkaraBrae@lemmy.worldEnglish
    23·
    10 hours ago

    6½d. Would be 6.5 pence, or sixpence and hap’ne (halfpenny). 6s. 6d. Would be 6 shillings and sixpence, or 6 and 6.

    Source: my parents and grandparents are/were English (Birmingham and Warwick) and I heard stories when I was growing up, as well as a couple of texts and TV shows. Sketchy sources, yes, but hopefully gets you started! Also, I’m probably wrong.

    • Deebster@infosec.pub
      12·
      10 hours ago

      Yup, as long as 6.5 is pronounced “six and a half” because “six point five” is too modern for old money.

      Edit: and ha’penny is pronounced HAYP-nee /h ɛ́j p n ɪj/

      • palordrolap@fedia.io
        5·
        2 hours ago

        “sixpence ha’penny” would also be acceptable, if not preferable.

        Source: My parents also remember pre-decimal money and I’ve heard plenty of tales.

        One good story is how, on decimal day, a lot of prices went up to 240% of the original because shopkeepers simply changed the d to a p on their price labels. One old penny was 1/240 of a pound and a new penny was 1/100.