It occurred to me that there is an extraordinary array of words for money, in a generic sense. Obviously, there are many words that are used for specific notes or coins, but I came up with the following list of words that are used in an informal or slang way for money in general. Dosh Moola(h) Lucre Spondulicks Ackers Lolly Bunce Wonga Tin Brass Bread Dough There are also terms for certain sums of money: Monkey - £25 Pony - £500 I was amused by whoever came up with the idea of calling the British pound coin a "Maggie". This was a reference to the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The coin was so-called because it had "a thick brass neck and thought it was a sovereign." Sadly, the term never really caught on, but in our house, a pound coin is still a Maggie.
For those who have it to spare, how about a... buck Ben Jackson or even a ... gran Sometimes I'm asked for 'change' (loose coins)
All of which reminds me that a pocketful of loose change, especially very small-value coins, is known as "shrapnel," at least in the UK.
I have asked just the same but change and cash seems to be exchangeable terms, don't worry as long as people understand what we are talking about
Recently, I heard an amusing story about Chrissie Hynde, of the band The Pretenders. Chrissie is, of course, American and she was talking one day to one of the road crew. This chap was from Yorkshire, where the term "brass" is commonly used. She'd never heard it before and she used the term in the song Brass in Pocket, one of their biggest hits.
This makes me think of our language about money. The first word that comes to my mind is the olden Kuwarta (or Cuarta in Spanish) that obviously came from the Spanish word that is literally money. Next are.... 1. Pera - the literal translation of money 2. Salapi - literally 50 centavos which also means money 3. Bread - a colloquial 4. Tiktak, datung, pamatsing - slang words There may be more that I cannot remember for now.
Yes, that's the correct usage of the term. In terms of coins, it is usually applied to having a lot of small coins.
I'm feeling facetious right now. I think I'll use schrapnel on my husband and watch the expression on his face. He is always using words out of context and I always correct him. If he says what I believe he will I'll just say that's how they say change in the UK.
When I was selling life insurance, they had an award for getting a "Grover", which was in reference to the picture of Grover Cleveland on the $1,000 bill. Pretty sure they don't even make those anymore, at least, it has been years and years since I had one, or even a $500 bill, which used to be fairly common.
I sure could use some dead presidents, and I wouldn't turn down a few Grovers. @Yvonne Smith Isn't it silly that there aren't $500 and $1,000 bills? I'll never understand why they were phased out. I think they would be used more these days, since the cost of living has increased. Not having them makes it easier to use virtual currency than tangible currently, but perhaps that was the point.
Another one that I forgot is nicker, slang for a pound. It's more commonly used in a plural sense with the word being the same, thus: "Can you lend me 20 nicker?" The largest denomination we have in the UK is the £50 note. They are not common and a lot of retailers will not accept them. Indeed, the only time I've ever seen one was when somebody showed me a forgery. The Euro goes a bit higher, with €500, €200 and €100 notes. Out of my range, though I've had the odd €50 note on my travels.
Tom & Von has all the other terms for money that I know of. Money has many different slang in other languages too I suppose though I never heard of it yet. Bucks or moolah are the two most common slang for money I see used now that I've noticed.