Hi,
> We don't hold the record for stupid measurements however. How many shillings in a
>quid? I don't know
> either. But I do know that if there is anything you should be able to figure in your
>head it is
> money. We were the first country in the world to use a decimal based money system.
12d in a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound (quid).
Autobiographical morality tale:
When I were nowt but a lad...
My first 2 years of school were in Singapore in the early/mid 60s,
where the currency was decimal ($s and cents), so my first experiences
of money were getting a 5c piece to get a bottle of Coke out of the
big red fridges they used to have. Very Norman Rockwell.
Later we lived in Gibraltar where they used �sd, and I went to a
Christian Brothers Preparatory School. The Christian Brothers were
evil bastards who made Torquemada look like the Buddha of Compassion.
They used to punish us regularly with a leather strap which had a
flexible metal strip running down the middle. Our Maths teacher was a
blue-chinned monster called Brother Kelly. His strap had part of the
metal strip sticking through the very well-worn leather. I was in a class
of about 20 boys and girls. One day he asked the class to tell him how
many pennies there were in 2/6d (2 shillings and 6 pence). He went round
the class, one by one, asking each of us in turn. Nobody got it right
(mostly because we were so frightened of getting anything wrong that
our brains frize). The consensus of opinion was that the answer was
26. It is, of course, 30. So Brother Kelly lined us all up in a row
and beat every single one of with his strap.
Cut to a few years later. I'm at a boarding school in England, and I'm
about 11 or 12 years old, with a deep hatred and phobia about arithmetic
of all forms. England still uses �sd - no decimal currency yet. I am
consistently bottom of the maths class, in every lesson, test or exam. So
one day the maths teacher teaches us about decimals, although not in the
context of currency. Just presents them. Here they are, without telling
anybody what they're used for. Later he gives us a test.
I'm used to decimals from living in Singapore, and I get 100%. I'm top
of the class. A miracle.
An impossible miracle. I get accused of cheating and nobody accepts my
explanation.
Sometimes you just can't win.
---
Bob
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Il faut �tre toujours bott� et pr�t � partir.
One should always have one's boots on and be ready to leave.
- Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
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