Does Your Money, Dollar Coin to be Precise Have Another Name In Your Country?
By Muelitz
@Muelitz (1592)
Canada
July 25, 2008 10:11pm CST
There was a bum that entered the train I was on. I was headed for the office that day. The man was asking everyone in the train for a loonie. Since I was new in Canada, It made me wonder what was it that he wanted. He approached me also but since I don't understand what he wanted I just said I can't help him. It was only after I heard on the news that I learned that it referred to a Canadian dollar.
Loonie is the name Canadians gave the gold-coloured, bronze-plated, one-dollar coin shortly after its introduction in 1987. I also found out that Toonie (sometimes spelled Twonie or Twoonie) is the name of the two-dollar coin, a combination of the number "two" with the name of the Loonie, Canada's one-dollar coin.
What about in your country, do you have other/fancy names for your currency?
Loonie is the name Canadians gave the gold-coloured, bronze-plated, one-dollar coin shortly after its introduction in 1987. I also found out that Toonie (sometimes spelled Twonie or Twoonie) is the name of the two-dollar coin, a combination of the number "two" with the name of the Loonie, Canada's one-dollar coin.
What about in your country, do you have other/fancy names for your currency?3 people like this
5 responses
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
26 Jul 08
Hi Muelitz,
We have £ Pence in the U.K. and a Bob is a £1/pound and a copper is pennies.
Tamara
2 people like this
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
26 Jul 08
Isn't there a Bird called a Looney on the Canadian Dollar Coin? I haven't seen one recently,but I have this mental picture of one..The UK pound is known colloquially as the Quid,which probably has some Latin explanation behind it..being close to the Irish Republic's Border here in Northern Ireland,We're used to the Euro as well,travelling back and forward,but I don't know of another name for the Euro as Yet!
1 person likes this
@Lindalinda (4111)
• Canada
26 Jul 08
There is indeed a bird on the Canadian Dollar coin. The bird is called a loon. It is a North American bird.
1 person likes this
@danishcanadian (28955)
• Canada
29 Aug 09
I am in Canada too, so I know exactly what you are talking about. It will be interesting to go back through this discussion to read what other people have to say. It's not just people who speak a foreign language who are confused. When he first got here, my American husband was extremely confused about what loonies and toonies were. LOL
@bbsr13 (4196)
• India
26 Jul 08
Hello,Mueltz!I am from India reporting you that the name of our money is RUPEES.We have one rupee coins,two rupees coins and five rupees coins.Besides we have paper currency of 10,20, 50,100,500 and 1000 rupees denominations.the conversion ratio of rupees to dollar will be 42.50rupees is equivalent to Us one dollar.thanx.
@penny64 (1106)
• Australia
26 Jul 08
What an interesting discussion! Here in Australia we just have dollars and cents. We don't really use nicknames for our coins (like nickel or dime). We would say a five cent piece or five cent coin. We have coins for 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c (silver coins), $1 and $2 (gold coins). Anything bigger than that is a note. Our notes are all different colours.
We changed to decimal currency in 1966. For ages you could still use a sixpence as a five cent piece and a shilling as a ten cent piece. I remember when it used to be a shilling toll to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge ... now it is $3!
We do use slang ... $5 becomes a fiver, $30 becomes 30 bucks, $1000 becomes a grand ... but I think that is copied from the UK and US.
1 person likes this
