[Jewelry making - Article 00042] - Re: [Orchid] DWT not PWT

[Anthony Lloyd-Rees]

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Hello Cindy

>     OK, burning question of the day: Does anyone know why Pennyweight
>     is abbreviated with a D? 

    Ah, the differences between British and English. Britspeak is very
    fond of words that are not pronounced as spelt. There are the famous
    examples such as; Raymond Luxury-Yacht (pronounced Throat-Warbler
    Mangrove) and of course Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) 

    So back in yesteryear the UK monetary system used Pounds, Shillings
    and Pence. That is a spelling of the correct pronunciation. The real
    spelling is Lira, Salarium and Dinar, which is why the abbreviations
    for UK funds was L.S.D. Although the Romans left 2,000 years ago
    nobody thought it wise to change until recently when the British
    government figured out they weren't coming back. Most of the UK had
    however been secretly spelling the money phonetically but abbreviating
    correctly, just to annoy foreigners. It's nice to know that it's
    still doing that because a lot of effort went into it. 

    A further aside the real Pound sign is a capital 'L'with a line
    through it, that tic-tac-toe thingy on your telephone is an
    octothorpe. 

Tony.

Anthony Lloyd-Rees.
www.OpalsInTheBag.com
www.TheGemDoctor.com

Vancouver,
Beautiful British Columbia

 
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