Subj : Hope you enjoyed that
To   : Spaceman Spiff
From : Angus Mcleod
Date : Wed Aug 18 2004 08:40 pm

  Re: Hope you enjoyed that
  By: Spaceman Spiff to Angus Mcleod on Wed Aug 18 2004 15:00:00

 >  >  > What's a quid?
 >  >
 >  > One pound Sterling is called a quid.  (Slang.)
 > 
 > Sort of like 25 cents in the States is two bits.

Yes, but there is some historic connection between 'bits' and 'dollars'.   In
the American colonies, there was no standard currency. The coin that was in
widest use was the Spanish Peso, known also as 'Pieces of Eight' because it
could be divided into eight pie-like pieces.  This coin was called a 'dollar'
after a silver coin originally minted in "Joachimstal" in what is now the
Czech Republic.  This coin, the Joachimstaler or Taler (pronounced "daler") was
what the Spanish Peso was named after, and when broken into eight 'pieces' or
'bits', then two 'bits' was the same as a quarter of a daler.

BTW, there are two schools of thought over the $ sign.  One says that the
original 'Pieces of Eight' bore the initials of Philip of Spain, a P and an S,
written one over the other.  Write a P and S on top of each other and you will
come very close to the present day $ sign.  Another theory is that the Spanish
royal family used a sign consisting of the two pillars of Hercules, crossed by
a swirling banner in the shape of an S.

I don't think there is any connection between 'quid' and 'pound'.  AFAIK, it's
just a slang word.  Also 'nicker' (not 'knicker' which means 'panty') is used
for english money, as in "It cost me ten nicker."


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