P or Pence?

[NigellaTheOriginal]

What do you think?

or indeed 'pur' as in phonics lol

We were never allowed to say "p" when we were children. My father was a committed pedant,

One penny and two pence coins are legal tender only up to the sum of 20p; this means that it is permissible to refuse payment of sums greater than this amount in 1p and 2p coins in order to settle a debt

i only found this out yesterday and have been desperate to share it with someone. now i can

Oooohhhh, this is one of my 'things'. As a child if I ever said 'ten p', my mum would immediately correct me and say 'pence'. Now it really makes me cringe when people say 'ten p' and inside I say 'pence, pence, pence'

Actually someone just said in another pedant post that the issue was snobbery, not pedantry - I think this might be the case here too? Without wishing ANY reflection on my father, I'm not sure his reasons for insisting on "pence" were strictly pedantic. Surely an abbreviation can be correct?

Does the P stand for penny or pence, or both?

I always think of it as meaning penny and you wouldn't say ten penny, but if it stands for pence or even pennies then I guess 'ten p' can make sense.

pence pence pence. will be repeating it untill the DDs do it.

Pence.

I know this is a zombie thread but can't leave it without contributing as it is something that's always irritated me. I'm not a pedantic linguist but see this as a matter of common sense. There are few reasons for speaking abbreviations but the usual one is to reduce the number of syllables and thus make it easier and quicker to say. As there is no benefit from using 'P' over pence then why would you do it when pence is the actual correct word? No one used to say 'D' for pre-decimalisation pence! This is just sloppy mistranslation from written to spoken abbreviation and perhaps occurred out of a perception that decimal currency needed to be different in all ways. Contrary to snobbery, its just thinking people asking WHY are you doing that?!!! There's a lot of misuse of abbreviations. One incredulous example is when the characters on US police and forensic dramas speak "G.S.W." instead of simply saying "gun shot wound" which has two fewer syllables! Hilarious, but I guess some think that acronyms sound somehow more professional or sexier?

Why? Maybe for a similar reason you've misused the word incredulous* (describes a person that is expressing incredulity not a thing about which they are expressing incredulity): we don't pause to weigh and consider every syllable we utter, we create sentences at speed to convey meaning.

We say 'p' because we see it on the page (and hear others using it) and don't stop to consider whether we need to unpack the abbreviation, because it's a common usage and our listener will understand, so why not?

Actually, I think "pence" does take more effort to say than "pee" because you've got to close off the vowel with the "s" sound.

*I know that sounds like a harsh dig, but actually, we all make errors in our language, and I think we should be pretty forgiving. It was clear what you meant by your use of "incredulous", so I wouldn't normally let it bother me. But this is Pedants' Corner!

Tuppence, thruppence and pennies

Oh, I miss the good old days!

Actually, I think "pence" does take more effort to say than "pee" because you've got to close off the vowel with the "s" sound.

^^ this. And YY to snobbery.

My excitement was uncontainable when I saw the new £1 (or one-pound, if you prefer) coin design. It reminds me of the old thruppeny bit. I cannot WAIT.

this

Bob, tanner, florin, half a dollar. Can anyone explain why it is that, after 45 years, there is not one popular slang expression for the coins denominated in new pennies? I do occasionally call a fifty pence piece ten bob when I think it is appropriate.😊

Pence.

I am v fussy about written language (less so about spoken, admittedly, with a few exceptions) and I have genuinely never thought about it. I'd always write 10p and I say p too. I confess I hardly ever say pounds. I say fiver and tenner and quid and grand...

I think this is snobbery too.

Don't care as long as you don't say 'one pence'...

It is not the done thing to discuss money. At a push a figure could be written down...