your younger than you look......

a shilling was a lot of money, being 12 pennies and would buy you absolutely zillions of things at a time when a chocolate bar would be only a penny or so. Gobstoppers ISTR in 2 sizes, the biggest one for tuppence. A bag of broken biscuits would be a penny or so.

probably not - just a quid

Oh yes, it was always fun listening to the previous generation hark on about what they could with a shilling - and still have change at the end of the night! Mind you, they used to tell me you could buy a house for 400 pounds! Different days..

can also be a storm at sea

"eee wen I wuz a lad I could take me girl to the pictures, call in at the chippy all on a bob, and still have a tanner for a pint with me mates the next day."

probably urban myth, but yes it was possible to buy a large house in North London in the 30's and 40's for less than £400, now worth £500k +

Geeze the complicated damn currency we used to have. All those fiddling little coins.

Even now we have too many. I mean, what the hell use is a two p or a two euro coin?

What we need is a 1, 5, and 20 cent/p and a 1 and 5 euro/pound coin.

A lot simpler and easier all round.

god bil, where are you in the cyber race ??
coins are following cheques - OUT

just use your card for everthing
just don't leave the receipts lying around for the MRS to find

I don't see that coming for a long time, if ever.

The government would love it as they could then track every damn penny you spend, and tax you till you bleed.

Be careful what you sign for. Someone at the place I now work at, went for some drinks with a group of friends in north London. When she paid her bill by bank card, the decimal place was put in the wrong place - it came to 186,000 pounds! The bank refused the payment, and of course she couldn't use the card after that as security measures put in the block.
What is particularly scary about that story is - what if the decimal point had only been moved one place? £186 instead of £18.60 ? The payment would probably have gone through.

We once ate in marbella and they were having trouble with the machine. First the paper ran out then it jammed. Was assured that the transactions were cancelled. Went online to check and they had charged 3 transactions for the meal Was cancelled straight away when I called in.

Spain has the largest credit card fraud in Europe. The closest restaurant to us were cloning tourists cards big time. He was given a few years in prison. His wife started work in Supersol!

Jacky are you suggesting this is a Spain overall problem or just that it is centred on the coastal strips, especially in places like Marbella where bling was invented.?

if a transaction fails the vendor is supposed to give you a copy of the failure.

chip and pin is "supposed" to stop card fraud and cloning - another initiative by the banks to put the onus on the one with their name on the card

I had my card cloned 5yrs ago in uk Shell petrol station operated by the local Co-Op. The bank refused to accept it was cloned until I proved I couldnt buy from Morrisons and Bristol in the same hour.

sorry don't see any Specialised local words here unless cloning counts

Some spanish call money pasta, suppose it's the equivalent of "dough" in English

A caretaker of a London apartment I had was called "Pony". Someone said the name stuck because he was always asking to borrow £20 or £25.

Americans call a bread roll an English muffin. I once ordered a toasted teacake in Leeds. When it arrived it was a plain toasted breadroll. I said I had asked for a teacake. If you wanted a "teacake" as I know it you had to ask for a currant teacake

Its been close to that way in Sweden for a very long time with the govt tracking almost every penny. Cheque books disappeared over 12 years ago.
The Swedes are the most subservient nation on the planet.If the govt told them to line up and walk off the nearest cliff they'd likely do it.
I often see puntersl in bars queing to get served each one seperately paying for a single small drink by card. They don't understand rounds or else are too mean.Drives the UK and Irish bar staff mad.

Regarding coinage expressions we always referred to half a crown as half a dollar and five bob as a dollar which is about what it was at one time.
I wonder if this was nationwide or just a local thing ?

I think it is more widespread in the costas as they seem to target mainly tourists. There have been a lot of cases in local málaga newspapers over the years. A friend who lives in mijas had a large transaction on his card and it was done in Australia on New years eve If I did a large transaction in Spain on my card like a holiday, furniture etc. they would often call me to confirm and ask some security questions. Once went wrong though, received call from visa sunday afternoon saying unusual transaction on card. Turned out to be 27 euro for an ad I had put in Sur

One here

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Cate...ticleId=327361

I think it's a Germanic cultural trait. The Spanish refer to it as "paying in the German way". Our expession "to go Dutch" again refers to paying one's own share, although it's used in a different context. Interestingly, the Spanish take the concept of paying for a round a step further. If you ask a friend(s) for a drink, then you are obliged to pick up the bill all night I believe? The idea is then you have several nights out where you don't pay anything. I don't think that concept would work too well with some people I know - they'd wolf down loads of drinks when others were paying, then disappear for months when it was their turn to foot the bill.