You know you're pathetic when...

[cosmolinguist]

I have something like £3 now, and I really think that's worth more than the U.S. money I have at this point.

Comments

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

At current exchange rates, £3 is worth more than the total income of the state of Minnesota last year :-p

[cosmolinguist]

Well, then it's certainly more than I have in U.S. currency!

I have, actually, no currency except some random change that's probably not even a dollar. But I do have seven dollars in my checking account!

(And my mom did promise me the vague amount of "some more money" before I leave. She also threatened to make me--yes, it was a threat, and yes, she'd have to make me--buy some new clothes before that.)

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

It could be worse. I have $5 or $10 Canadian here...I think that's about 50 cents now :-)

And I don't know if you're old enough to remember this or not, but McDonalds used to give away coins from the South American countries in their Happy Meals.

[ivana-duboise.livejournal.com]

[cosmolinguist]

Even if I am old enough, I don't remember it. But then, I don't remember eating at McDonald's very much when I was a kid.

[dawgdays.livejournal.com]

Is it coins - those double-thick, ridiculously heavy, pocket-wrecking one-pound coins? At least the Brits USE their pound coins. Seems that the US Mint couldn't pay people to use the Sacajawea dollars. Of course, I think the UK declared that the one-pound notes were no longer legal tender.

I remember when the Italians didn't have one Lira coins. The smallest coin was a 5 Lira. They felt really cheap. I think they were made of aluminum. That's when it was 3,000 Lira to the dollar. Stores would sometimes give change in candy.

I always liked the British monetary names - shilling, florin, guinea. At least a couple are still around (shilling = 5p, florin = two shillings = 10 p).

But I suppose it doesn't matter what it's called, if you don't have any.

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

We no longer use those names. The shilling and florin/two shilling names stopped being in use in 1971 when coins were decimalised, but the coins themselves remained in use until the early '90s (although no other pre-decimalisation currency was legal tender). However, in the early 90s they withdrew all the old 5p and 10p pieces (and the shilling and two shilling pieces) and replaced them with smaller, more lightweight ones, so now the coins, as well as the terms, are no longer in use.

[dawgdays.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that. I knew the names were no longer in use, but I remember seeing the old 5/10p coins. My last trip to the UK was in 1989, so I guess I'm a little behind the times.

[cosmolinguist]

I have at least one one-pound coin, maybe two, the other coins are smaller amounts, I think. I haven't really looked all that closely, I just stuck them in my wallet with my quarters and pennies. :-)

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

Oh and if you think the £1 coins are heavy, you should try a £2 coin...