It's one penny, not one pence!

[david51058]

Why do I hear people all over the media including reporters, newsreaders, politicians saying one pence? Pence is plural, it should be one penny. Basic junior school english.

[douglas9401]

Is it any worse that "two pee"? :)

[boxtops]

Yes it is, douglas - pee is just an abbreviation, pence is a plural. Same you can't have a half-pence. ;-)

[Hopkirk]

Life's too short to worry about such minor faults.

[boxtops]

On the whole hopkirk, I tend to agree, but it's nice if the man who's in charge of all our money knows how to name our currency.

[Hopkirk]

He seems to have a far greater hold on reality than his opposite number - that Balls numpty.

[douglas9401]

You're right Hopkirk, if only the pee was, still that's just age. :)

[boxtops]

Balls and pee, hmm, I think I'd better go to work ;-)

[RATTER15]

A touch pedantic! well said Hopkirk.

It really doesn't bother me if the man who is in charge of our money doesn't have great English, however it would be a worry if his maths weren't so good.

[heathfield]

Carry one around with you, David. When someone says ''one pence'', whip it out, (the coin, that is!), and point out that it's clearly labelled ''one penny''. Note that you can't do this in the USA, where the coin referred to as ''a penny'' is clearly labelled ''one cent'' - even more confusing, I'd say!!

[david51058]

Actually,I think I know where this error originated. When decimalisation was introduced, there was constant talk of new pence as opposed to the old money. So this stuck, even when talking about one penny, people would talk of 'one new pence' to differentiate new from old. Still no excuse though.

[albaqwerty]

I vaguely remember hearing Ten new pennies = 10 pence

It wasn't ten new pence = 10 pence.

I also hate reading "Received a invalid respone"

[pretty_snowdrop]

David,do you remember complaining to a famous supermarket about the same issue? On one advert it quoted one pence instead of one penny. Their reply was that one pence sounded better.

[pretty_snowdrop]

I meant well known supermarket - not famous lol

[guilliebrougues]

because when decimalisation came into being all coins were known as new pence. that is what i was taught when i worked in a shop during the change over, we had to say new pence. so i say it should be 1 pence or two pence, you cannot really say 2 penny. .

[starone]

When it was old money it was always one penny but two pence (tuppence) or three pence (thruppence) and so on. After the one penny it was pence. I still use that format and I think I have passed it on to the kids because they know what I mean.

[vulcan]

It's simple enough,the coin itself shows what it is called. One penny, two pence etc.

[chakka35]

Admittedly it's a trivial thing, but then it needs only an equally trivial effort to get it right. You also hear talk of 'the media of television'. I fully expect 'one mice', 'one feet' and 'one teeth' any minute. If people are that careless about our wonderful language it makes me wonder what other things they're careless about.

[Electrochem]

The die is cast. Or should that be the dice?

[jackthehat]

^Different sort of die...........