Australian Money Slang

Australian Money Slang

Decimal currency, Dollars and Cents, was introduced into Australia February 14th. 1966, so many Australian don't know about the old currency or the slang terms used.

The old imperial currency was known as LSD, no not the drug, but Pounds Shillings and Pence. The symbol for Pounds is £, not unlike the letter "L", Shillings was S, and for some reason Pence was represented by the letter "d", hence LSD.

There was also a rich slang for the old currency:-

· trey - three pence

· zack - sixpence

· deener, deenah or bob - schilling

· two bob - two shilling or a florin, and

· quid - pound.

There seemed to be no slang for a penny, or a farthing, 1/4 penny, but a 1/2 penny was pronounced "hapenny".

For some reason there is no slang for the current decimal currency, except perhaps the American "buck" for dollar, although not used very widely.

For more information on Australian Currency, you might try The Tasmanian Numismatist, or Australian Currency, or even the Australian Reserve Bank information sheet on Polymer Currency.