Re: USAGE: Currencies and -s

On Thu, 31 Aug 2000, Nik Taylor wrote:

> Raymond Brown wrote:
> > But the trouble with gold coinage is that if inflation weakens the pound,
> > the coin becomes worth more than its face value!
>
> That seems really odd to have a coin whose value changes.
Well, English money of that era was linked to silver: a pound weight of
silver was actually worth 1 pound (of money).  So think of the
guinea coin as a gold bar stamped "This bar is worth 1 pound of silver."
Since the relative value of gold and silver changes over time, it's
not surprising that the label should become obsolete.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
"[O]n the whole I'd rather make love than shoot guns [...]"
        --Eric Raymond