Pence anyone?

jesbroken

I heard that the reason the English named a coin pence was that they couldn't decide between cents and pennies so they combined them and called them pence!
Nah---just made that up, but thats what we should call our new penny/cent.
Actually, I received one in change in Ohio this weekend while visiting an ill relative. Stopped at a Burger King on the way home and voila! a new pent popped up in change. First one I have seen--can't get any from our banks her in southern WV and I have been to many. Where are all the billions of these coins? I would think that the Fed would want them out but I guess not. Anyone else finding any?
Jim

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<I heard that the reason the English named a coin pence was that they couldn't decide between cents and pennies so they combined them and called them pence!>>
There is no one pence coin in England. It is a penny (new or old). Two of them are two pennies, but they have a value of two pence.

ProofArtworkonCircs

I missed the obvious here.
penny is the singular. Pennies and/or pence are the plural.

WTCG

Also don't forget that in England when people refer to pence almost all native speakers simply call them "p" (pronounced "pee"), as in "a stick of gum costs 10p".

dtkk49a

Mintage figures indicate that fewer cents were produced in 2009 and 2010 than in previous years. In fact, you may even have a hard time finding a lot of 2008 cents in change.
Due to the recent downturn in the economy, billions of cents that were sitting in jars in people's closets were cashed in and the mint did not have to produce that many new cents.
I doubt you will ever see a lot of cents dated 2008 thru 2010 in change.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<Also don't forget that in England when people refer to pence almost all native speakers simply call them "p" (pronounced "pee"), as in "a stick of gum costs 10p".>>

Right! And before decimalization in 1971, it was written "d" as in 6d. I don't know if it was pronounced that way or not.

PerryHall

<< <i><<Also don't forget that in England when people refer to pence almost all native speakers simply call them "p" (pronounced "pee"), as in "a stick of gum costs 10p".>>

Right! And before decimalization in 1971, it was written "d" as in 6d. I don't know if it was pronounced that way or not. >>



The "d" came from denarius which was the Roman penny and dates back to the time of the Roman occupation or colonization of the British Isles.