Re: Types of numerals

Tristan McLeay wrote:
> I don't really think I'd call that remotely OCD. ("Just a minute, let me
> see if I've got any change.") That's really a very common
> practice
Not in Kansas at least.  I'm a cashier, and quite often, most people
just give me one or two bills, just accumulating their coins and
low-denomination bills.  And then I hear people complain about how they
have so much change!  I regularly see people with several dollars worth
of coins (and keep in mind that $.25 is the largest common coin in the
US).  Not to mention ridiculously large numbers of low-denomination
bills like 1's and 5's.  I try to avoid having more than 4 pennies
($.01), 1 nickle ($.05), 2 dimes ($.10) or 3 quarters ($.25), likewise,
I try to keep my paper at no more than four 1's, three $5's or one $10
(it's not uncommon for registers to not have any $10's, so receiving
back two or three $5's is fairly common).  I find it mildly annoying
when I slip up and receive a nickel when I already have one ... :-)

> ---about the only people who don't do it are the people who want
> to try and take certain coins out of circulation (I've met a few people
> who try and collect all the 5c coins they can---they obviously hate them
> as much as I do).
If you hate them, why would you collect them?  Wouldn't you try to get
rid of them, or simply leave them?

> I only assume they were just trying to make the euro comparable in value
> to the various dollars and the British pound. What I think they
> should've done is just said that the primary subdivision of the euro was
> €0.1, a dime or something. There's no reason a subdivision needs to be a
> hundredth.
Or decimal for that matter ... ;-)

But, yeah, it does seem like the US dollar and the Pound seem to be the
accepted "standard currency value".  Revalued currencies generally seem
to aim for the vicinity of those.  Which leads me to conclude that one
day, there will be no currencies with subdivisions, because inflation
will bring them all down in value, and any revaluations will aim for
those increasingly devalued currencies.

>> Interestingly, around here, "cash" is often used to mean paper money
>> exclusively.
>
>
> "Cash" I usually take to mean coins or notes, I don't think I've ever
> heard either specialisation before.
I think it's probably an Americanism, due to the fact that our coins are
so low value that they're not seen as "real money".

I use the same meaning of cash as you, incidentally.  It's a minor pet
peeve of mine when people use the term cash to exclude coins.

> Notes are notes, rarely paper money
> because hereabouts they're polymer (another thing I don't get is why
> euros notes are paper.
Yeah, from what I've read of polymer notes, I wish the US would do that,
too.  But, there's enough complaints about the minimal amount of color
recently added that I'm not holding my breath on a rational currency any
time soon ...

>> A lot of Americans just put their coins in their pocket.  I prefer
>> keeping it in my wallet, as its more efficient, but lately I've been
>> looking for a new, nicer, wallet, and you just can't find men's
>> wallets with a coin-pocket.  Very annoying.
>
>
> Australian men are the same---most women do put their coins in their
> purses though. Or handbags. I find mens wallets with coin-pockets might
> as well not have the coin pocket, because once you've got more than a
> few coins, you can't close it! Perhaps it's less noticeable in the US
> because all your common coins are of relatively low value, whereas we
> have $1 and $2 coins which are actually of some use.
You've got pretty big coins, too.  My wallet's coin-pocket is quite
adequate for US coins, even throwing in a dozen dollar coins, which I
use from time to time.

Henrik Theiling wrote:
 >> (Admittedly, I'm semi-OCD on that
 >>issue ... I've been known to give a cashier $23.01 for a $7.51
 >>purchase -
 >>$15.50 in change, the most compact change I could come up with with
 >>what I had on me)
 >
 >
 > Haha, errrm, I do exactly the same.  Should be 22.01, BTW

That would be $4.50 in change.

 > Well, I think they do except them, actually.  I've never encountered
 > strange looks (only happy smiles, maybe) when paying exactly 7.98 EUR
 > using 5 + 2 + .50 + .20 + .20 + .05 + .02 + .01.  Of course, paying 1
 > EUR with 100 * 1ct will most probably create some discussion, but so
 > will paying 100 EUR with 100 * 1 EUR.

:-)  Well, sure.  No one wants that many of a single denomination.

 > I didn't understand it either.  Finland eliminated the 1ct and 2ct
 > coins quite immediately and if I had been King of Europe, I would
 > probably have done the same for my whole empire and would have
 > additionally defined 20 newEUR := 1 oldEUR (meaning, of course, 1
 > newEUR = 5 oldCents) so that no cents would have been needed anymore.
 > I don't like two units for one type of thing too much.

But then you'd have ridiculously large prices, like spending thousands
on groceries.  Me, I'd prefer a currency in the range of $10 for the
main unit.

 > Also, I would probably have founded a commision for single-syllable
 > nick names for 'Euro' in all the language of my empire.  And then,
 > after a few years, I would have introduced Tok Pisin as the official
 > language.  (Or maybe not, who knows. :-))

I'd've just had no official name, and no words on the money.  Instead of
writing "5 Euro", it would just say "5", and each country could come up
with their own name.

Likewise, for a global currency, there'd definitely be no words, and the
values would be given in European, Arabic, and Hanzi numerals.  I'd name
it with abbreviations of "Earth Currency Unit" in various languages, Ecu
in English, Umoti (Unidad MOnetaria de la Tierra) for Spanish, etc.

 >>A lot of Americans just put their coins in their pocket.  I prefer
 >>keeping it in my wallet, as its more efficient, but lately I've been
 >>looking for a new, nicer, wallet, and you just can't find men's
 >>wallets with a coin-pocket.  Very annoying.
 >
 >
 > Really!?  That's strange.  Do you think there's a market for buying them
 > here and putting them on eBay for sale in the US? :-))

A small one, maybe :-)  Not too large, or they'd be available in stores ...

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