Definition:Sterling/Penny/New
Definition
The (new) penny is a unit of the Sterling monetary system.
Symbol
The symbol for the new penny is $\mathrm p$.
| \(\ds \) | \(\) | \(\ds 1\) | new penny | |||||||||||
| \(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \frac 1 {100}\) | pound sterling | |||||||||||
| \(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \frac 1 5\) | shilling | |||||||||||
| \(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \dfrac {12} 5 = 2.4\) | (old) pence |
Historical Note
The (new) penny was introduced in $1971$ in the United Kingdom on $15$ February $1971$ when the UK coinage system was decimalized.
It was defined as $\dfrac 1 {100}$ of the pound sterling.
The penny, along with the shilling, was discontinued at that time.
At that point, the replaced penny was referred to as an old penny, while the new penny was gradually and progressively referred to just as a penny, in the natural order of evolution of language.
Linguistic Note on Penny
The usual plural of the word penny is pence.
However, the word pennies is sometimes used in rhetorical speech if it is required to emphasise the paltry quantity of the money in question.
Pennies is also used to refer to the specific coins themselves:
- I have five pennies in my pocket
would be taken to mean:
while:
- I have five pence in my pocket
would be taken to mean:
- I have money to the amount of $5 p$ in my pocket.
Linguistic Note on New Penny
When the new penny replaced the old penny, a new colloquial language needed to evolve in order to distinguish between old pennies and new pennies.
While referring to old pennies, the pronunciation of the plural pence had evolved to sound something like p'nce or b'nce or even mce, depending on context.
That is, for example, sixpence would come out sounding like six-bnce.
Hence the pronunciation of the plural of new penny would be carefully enunciated as new pence, or just pence.
But this proved too much work, and so to distinguish between, say $2 \mathrm d.$ for the (old) twopence, pronounced (and even sometimes spelled) tuppence, and $2 \mathrm p$ for $2$ new pence, it became customary just to say $2 \mathrm p$, that is, two pee.
And there it remains to this day: to specify the number of (new) pennies in a sum of money, the word pee is used.
Yes, you guessed, since then there has been plenty of ribald humour based on just that pun, but in general usage, the British public barely notice.