It’s interesting that decimal currency hasn’t brought abbreviation of our coins and notes like there was with pre-decimal money that I found out when I dived into some in depth research into slang monetary terms. It’s interesting and amusing how some of these slang terms came about and even with the differing countries how their slang is just like a foreign language to us. These are just some of the Aussie slang terms, there are more and interesting terms used in other countries derived from their histories and cultures.
Do you remember slang terms used for monies in days of old?
Threepence: tray or trey bit or trey, comes from the french tre meaning three.
Sixpence: zac or tanner.
Shilling: bob or deener or dina.
Florin: two bob or swy.
1937 or 1938 crown: casey’s cartwheel -named after the treasurer of the time Lord Casey who proposed the coin.
Ten shillings: half-fidly
Pound: quid or fiddly-did derived from word association fidly->fid->quid.
Five pounds: spin
Ten pounds: brick.
Slang term for the first Australian pre-decimal notes when Fisher was the Prime Minister: Fisher’s flimsies
Pre-decimal notes with Miller as one of the signatories: Miller flimsies
One dollar coin or note: buck.
$20 note – lobster or red-back
Even the term heads and tails is a slang term. The general population probably wouldn’t recognise the tails side as the reverse and the heads side as the obverse of coins.
