Re: French liaisons (was something else)

--- Tristan McLeay <zsau@...> wrote:
> 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
Quite. US monetary law is a bit odd in this
respect. Officially, our denominations are
"cent", "dime", "dollar" and "eagle". 1c of
course is a penny; a dime is 10c; a dollar is
100c and an eagle is 1000c. There was a proposal
once upon a time for a "union" at 10000c, but
that never really came to be.

> (our coins come in 5, 10, 20
> and the octagonal 50 cents (collectively
> silver) and $1 and $2 (collectively gold)).
Good on yer for getting rid of the penny and two
cent piece!

> 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.
There is a relatively large movement in the US to
overhaul the system along those lines. Namely, to
be rid of the penny and dollar note at least.
Many would like be rid of the nickel for similar
reasons; and some would like to follow Canada's
lead and introduce a US twoonie. A few would also
like to see a new issue of $500 and perhaps $200
notes, to compete with the euro.

> 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"'.
What happens if you call em florins? ... Nn, no
that's 20c Australian. Half florins? Shillings?
:)

> > 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?).
Because they say things "tha??l be two squid
fifty, guv" and similar. I guess if we REALLY
want to sound rightpondian, we need to say "two
dollars and fifty cee".

> It probably doesn't
> help that we say /dOl@z/ either, does it? :)
Sounds perfectly Merkin! Somewhere in NE, anyway.
Only don't tell yer dimehating mates! ;)

Padraic.


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