Re: Time in various languages...

ranjit_mathews@xxxxxxxxx wrote: 
Neeraj Mathur wrote:

minutes after 9 or 9.30 and finish at 10. This is the way that human minds
instinctively work - that's why prices are always xx9.99, and that seems to
have proved rather well-attuned to producing bankable results for shops.



In the UK, before decimal currency, the trick was to price (say) suits
in guineas rather than pounds, not to price them at ...11p.

Not so.

They were indeed priced at 11d (not 11p) - 3/11 (three and eleven). Indeed, 3/11½ ('three and elevenpence ha'penny').

While I don't (quite) remember farthings in use, I heard reference later to 2/11¾ ('two and eleven three' I think).

Guineas were different. They were most used in contexts where there was a commission to be paid, so the price was in guineas (1/1/0 ie one pound on shilling) but the seller got it in pounds. They did come to be used more generally, though, you're right.

Colin
.

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