Used to be worse, to quote messers Pratchett & Gaimon.
"NOTE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND AMERICANS: One shilling = Five Pee.
It helps to understand the antique finances of the Witchfinder Army if you know the original British monetary system
Two farthings = One Ha’penny.
Two ha’pennies = One Penny.
Three pennies = A Thrupenny Bit.
Two Thrupences = A Sixpence.
Two Sixpences = One Shilling, or Bob.
Two Bob = A Florin.
One Florin and One Sixpence = Half a Crown.
Four Half Crowns = Ten Bob Note.
Two Ten Bob Notes = One Pound (or 240 pennies). Once Pound and One Shilling = One Guinea.
The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated."
You get my angry up vote. But seriously how is the imperial measurement any better? I mean it is completely and utterly broken with not unified conversions and I can’t imagine that learning all this as a kid wasn’t challenging.
To be fair, Imperial it’s a base 12 compared to Metric which is a base 10. The nice thing about a base 12 is you can divide it by 3 or 2 which is easier for day to day things. I’m sure also having uneducated masses made base 12 easier when you could do conversions of 3 or 2 units which is easier to understand.
Used to be worse, to quote messers Pratchett & Gaimon.
"NOTE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND AMERICANS: One shilling = Five Pee.
It helps to understand the antique finances of the Witchfinder Army if you know the original British monetary system
Two farthings = One Ha’penny. Two ha’pennies = One Penny. Three pennies = A Thrupenny Bit. Two Thrupences = A Sixpence. Two Sixpences = One Shilling, or Bob. Two Bob = A Florin. One Florin and One Sixpence = Half a Crown. Four Half Crowns = Ten Bob Note. Two Ten Bob Notes = One Pound (or 240 pennies). Once Pound and One Shilling = One Guinea.
The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated."
Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
As an American: What the fuck?
You get my angry up vote. But seriously how is the imperial measurement any better? I mean it is completely and utterly broken with not unified conversions and I can’t imagine that learning all this as a kid wasn’t challenging.
To be fair, Imperial it’s a base 12 compared to Metric which is a base 10. The nice thing about a base 12 is you can divide it by 3 or 2 which is easier for day to day things. I’m sure also having uneducated masses made base 12 easier when you could do conversions of 3 or 2 units which is easier to understand.