Bob, Quid, Guinea

When I arrived for the first time in Nigeria, there was a lot of adjusting to do.

I had to adjust to an unfamiliar climate and unfamiliar food.  I had to teach in a school system based on the British school system, and I had to very quickly learn how to deal with a non-decimal monetary system.

Nigeria --- just like Britain at the time --- used pounds, shillings, and pence.  (Pence if you are talking about an amount of money, but pennies if you were talking about the metal coins.)  They also had a half penny, sometimes called a ha’penny just like in the old folk song. 

This system was an arithmetical challenge: there are 12 pence in one shilling.  And 20 shillings in a pound.  Stop --- multiply 12 times 20 in your head --- that makes 240 pence in a pound!

To make things interesting, there were nicknames --- A pound was called a quid, and a shilling was called a bob.  Even more interesting: the abbreviation for a penny was “d”.

Plus, there was a unit of charity.  One never donated a pound; one always donated a guinea to a charity.  A guinea equals a pound plus a shilling, which would make it equal to 21 bob, or maybe 252 pence, or 504 ha’pence.

As an American who grew up with a decimal monetary system, learning all this was formidable. 

I once saw a Nigerian elementary school arithmetic textbook; it contained page after page of currency problems.  I pitied the Nigerian kids in second grade who spent an enormous amount of time multiplying 12 times 20.

Physically, the Nigerian pennies and ha’pennies were quaint: they were circular with a hole in the middle.  I made fun of these coins until the day I saw someone carrying a bunch of pennies on a string.  Then I realized that the hole in the coin is not quaint; it is practical.

Design-wise, the Nigerian pennies and ha’pennies had the Star of David on them.  The Star of David was ideal for a coin with a hole in the middle.  However, the design did make me wonder if I was living amongst one the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

I loudly proclaimed the superiority of decimal currency to my Nigerian friends.  They did not believe me when I said that decimal currency was simple.  Pounds-shillings-pence was second-nature to them.

Luckily, the Central Bank of Nigeria believed that decimal currency was simple.  They switched the country to a decimal currency in 1973.

Now I no longer need to pity the Nigerian kids in second grade.


- . - .- . - . - . 

SONG: If you haven't got a penny, then a ha'penny will do.  A young woman plays guitar and sings the old folk song (1.5 minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbIbjLGEas8

- . - .- . - . - . 

NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com