Jul

31

british money slang

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Patrick of cash money life found a good post on American money slang and would like to know the origin of the word quid. Here is my non-definitive list of common British English slang terms for money, their meanings and derivations (where possible).

quid = one pound sterling This is the most common form of slang for a pound, and is used in exactly the same context that dollar currencies use ‘buck’. Interestingly the plural of quid is quid as in ‘you owe me five quid’. Probably comes from the Latin ‘quid pro quo’ which means something in exchange for something else and is used in legal transactions. It could also be from a mint that existed in Quidhampton.

squid = quid Modern corruption / diminutive, probably comes from the joke about a shark, a whale and a sick squid.

fiver = five pound note This is pretty self-explanatory, and is used all the time, as in ‘you can give it to me in fivers’

Lady Godiva = fiver Modern rhyming slang

tenner = ten pound note This should also be obvious and is incredibly common, as in ‘I’ll need a tenner to pay for that’

Ayrton Senna = tenner Modern rhyming slang

shrapnel = loose change Usually slightly derogatory and implies that lots of small denomination coins. Comes from military shrapnel, especially in the second world war. As in ‘I don’t have any notes so its all shrapnel’

dosh = a moderate amount of cash Roughly the amount of money that you’d need to spend on a night out. This may come from an African colonial word ‘dash’ which meant a bribe or tip, or the amount of money needed to stay in a doss house or a corruption of dollar and cash. As in ‘have you got enough dosh for this?’

readies = money Just a corruption of the expression ‘ready cash’. As in ‘have you got the readies?’

wad = a large amount of cash Think of a crisp wad of bank notes - could refer to a sum of money from £50 or so up in cash. This was made very popular by the comedian Harry Enfield with his loadsamoney character. As in ‘he was waving around a large wad’.

bob = shilling (in old money), sometimes pound (in new money) This was the slang for shilling (1/12th  1/20th of a pound in old money) but is now occasionally used for a pound as in ‘lend me five bob’ but more commonly as a sum of money, as in ‘he makes a few bob’ meaning he’s got a good income. This dates from at least the 18th century if not earlier, and could be derived from bell-ringing where it is a set of changes rung on bells (shilling could come from a german word meaning ring). Other derivations include the French ‘bas billon’ meaning debased currency or a plumb-bob used to mark a vertical position (like a plumb-line).

nicker = one pound Another form of slang for the pound sterling, the plural of nicker is nicker, as in ‘that cost eight nicker’. Probably comes from the use of nickel in coins.

wonga = money This is a very London word. Suggestions that it might derive from a Romany word ‘wanga’ meaning coal.

brass = money Dates from the sixteenth century, referring to a pile of coins. Most common in Yorkshire.

lolly = money Absolutely no idea where this comes from.

spondoolicks = money Might derive from a type of shell used as currency in ancient Greece (spondulox), spondoolicks (emphasis on the ‘oo’) dates from at least the mid 1800s.

Edited to correct error. There were 20 shillings in a pound not 12.

Jul

30

111th carnival of personal finance - glastonbury edition

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We’re in England, its summer, its raining, it must be music festival season. The undisputed king of British music festivals is the Glastonbury Festival and so in honour of this auspicious time of year, this weeks carnival of personal finance has a Glastonbury theme.

Whilst I’ve got your undivided attention, a little advertising from your host. Think about subscribing to my feed, it’s really not too bad, and check out the best of plonkee money.

First up, the headline acts, the ones that you all should have come to see on The Pyramid Stage:

Close to the best, but not quite there The Other Stage hosts:

The Kidz Field, needs no introduction everything related to those wonderful bundles of joy can be found here:

The John Peel tent hosts those trying out something different:

For all the counter-culture hippies, thinking about the bigger picture come and share the Sacred Space with these bloggers:

A music festival has to house thousands, see what they have to say in the TiPi Village:

All this action is making me thirsty, so I’m going over to one of the Workers Beer bars for some refreshments with:

How do we make sure that undesirables are kept at bay? We have the perimeter fence as our insurance:

Let us make something for the future by checking out the Crafts Field and seeing what we can make for ourselves in investing and income:

Its back to basics at the Acoustic Stage, as it is with these money saving ideas:

At the non-virtual Glastonbury there’s something else thats compulsory, tickets, but in this version we’ll stick to death and taxes:

Don’t forget to use the control centre and emergency services for any unwanted debt that is floating around:

Jul

27

the people opposite me are moving

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A for sale sign is up on the house opposite mine, so of course I’ve checked it out at the agents to see what its on for and to nose at pictures of the inside.

Its on at £10K more than my house was, which is easily accounted for by the decorative state of the property (mine needed redecorating, a new kitchen and a new bathroom) and the size of the garden (they actually have one, whereas mine is *compact*). Its got almost identical living space to my house and the pictures of their fireplace have given me some ideas for mine.

What’s interesting to me, is that before I bought I had the perception that house prices in the area had been quite stable for a while. Using the wonderful houseprices website, I was able to find out how much they paid for it three years ago. If they sell for the asking price (which is unlikely), they’ll have made a 20% profit in three years - this looks quite good. But that only works out to be an annual rise of 6.5% a year. Given that there is a widespread belief that prices have risen massively over the last couple of years, that’s actually not such a big increase (between 2001 and 2004, similar properties showed a 26% annual price rise).

I may actually have bought at an alright time.

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