Re: French liaisons (was something else)

On Sat, 7 Feb 2004, Costentin Cornomorus wrote:

> --- Tristan McLeay <zsau@...> wrote:
> >
> > For the record, 'two dollars fifty' is
> > perfectly fine in Australia. In
> > fact, to my ear, 'two dollars and fifty cents'
> > sounds hypercorrect and
> > certainly not something I'd expect to hear.
>
> "Two and a half dollars" is also quite OK in
> Merkin; though I am sure there can be some
> regional variation on the theme. And "a quarter
> eagle", amongst a certain set, is also 100%
> understandable.
The only fractions we use of dollars is cents (our coins come in 5, 10, 20
and the octagonal 50 cents (collectively silver) and $1 and $2
(collectively gold)).

> Technically, "two dollars and five dimes" would
> also be correct, but unheardof. Mind you, I have
> written cheques in terms of dimes rather than
> cents on the odd occasion.
Incidentally, I personally think we should get rid of 5c coins. They're
good for nothing apart from a way of giving change when things are priced
$x.95 et sim. After we've done that, we should drop the trailing 0 from
the ends of numbers and instead of using cents use dimes. But you should
hear the response whenever I suggest the word 'dime'! There is an
_amazing_ anti-American centiment [hehehe] there amongst even the most
pro-American people! I have thus come to say '... or, if "dime" is too
American, we could just as well use "tenths" or "tithes"'.

----------------------------
Adam Walker:

> LOL and to an American "two dollars fifty" sounds like someone putting
> on airs and/or trying to sound like a Brit!
That surprises me no end (why, for instance, a Brit?). It probably doesn't
help that we say /dOl@z/ either, does it? :)

--
Tristan

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