> Jim Dixon[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > > On Tue, 9 Apr 2002, Trei, Peter wrote: > > > I was living in Britain (and of an allowance-recieving age) when > > decimalization > > occured. While we lost the big penny, we gained the 50p piece. In those > > days, > > it was a large, heavy, seven-sided coin, bigger than a US half-dollar, > and > > worth > > $1.20. It felt good in your pocket. Since then, the Brits have shrunk it > to > > a > > much smaller size. Do they still call the 1 pound coins 'maggies'? > > I have been living in the UK for 17 years and have never heard this term. > > Younger people aren't sure who Maggie is anyway ;-) > > (15-year old daughter sitting next to me: > > "Who's Maggie?" > > and then > > "Why would a pound be called Margaret Thatcher?" > This dates back to the time when they were first introduced, and is clearly out of date:
It was called a Maggie because it was thick, brassy, and thought it to be sovereign. [For the non-brits: A 'sovereign' is a rarely seen gold coin, about the same size as the pound coin (but worth a lot more - it's got nearly a 1/4 ounce of gold). It also plays off of Margaret Thatcher's autocratic tendencies. 'Brassy' is slang for, roughly, "outspoken/irreverent", and 'thick' means stupid.] Peter Trei
