Re: OT currency (was Re: Quoting styles (was Re: Antipassive?))

There's been a movement afoot over here for years to abolish the
penny.  I think the nickel is now in the same category (more expensive
than itself to mint).  So I agree,  both should go. Then we could just
drop the last digit of prices, if not for those pesky quarters.  So
get rid of them, too! Dimes, 50-cent-pieces (a new design that's not
so frickin huge, plz; maybe nickel-sized), dollars. With no quarter
the dollar coin has nothing to be confused with.....



On 5/29/08, Peter Collier <petecollier@...> wrote:
> --- Keith Bertelsen <conlang@...> wrote:
>
>> > A friend, who collects currency, explained to me
>> that the purpose
>> > for varisized currency is so that blind people can
>> tell denominations
>> > apart by touch.
>>
>> I always thought that it was the
>> cash-register-manufacturers lobby, myself. After
>> all, changing the sizes of currency would require
>> all the cash registers to buy new bill-holding
>> trays.
>
>
> Not so my friend, the trays are all the same size
> here, even though the notes differentiate by size (and
> colour).
>
> You have heard the story about Isaac Newton, and his
> cat flap(s), I presume?
>
>
>
>> Personally, since I use a money clip, I much prefer
>> my bills to all be the same size (so they align
>> better). Different colors to make them easier to
>> distinguish would be a great idea, but I'm usually
>> close enough to tell the faces/numbers apart
>> anyways.
>>
>> Coins, however, I like to be different sizes; then
>> again, I'm far more likely to try to pick out coins
>> without looking than I am bills. This is also why I
>> (and a lot of people) don't particularly care for
>> the new dollar coins: they're too close to quarters
>> to reliably distinguish them by touch.
>
>
> I've never had a problem in my frequent trips right of
> pond - diffent diameter, different depth, different
> colour, smooth edge versus milled, different picture.
> I can easily separate them without looking (not that I
> get the $1 coins that often...). I really struggle to
> comprehend the locals' problems with it.  Then again,
> the UK's small change is  coin based, whereas the US's
> is note based. I really struggle with the concept of
> having to fish out a couple of bank notes even to pay
> for a newspaper. I think the reason so many people
> reject the coins over there is that they are of no
> practical value.  If the coin/note boundary was
> similar to many other places, you'd lose the penny and
> nickel, you'd have regularly circulating coins for 50c
> $1, $2 and $5, and your smallest bill would be the
> $10. If you only have 4 coins, 2 of which are
> effectively valueless individually, and of the other 2
> the lower value one is as small as a shirt button, and
> the higher value one is still of such low value you'd
> think twice about looking for it if you dropped it and
> it rolled away - you can easily see why the notes
> would be preferred!
>
>
> P
>
--
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Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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