The term 'Six-of-the-best'

Guineas were originally a gold coin, but the term was used for £1 1s long after the coins ceased to be used, especially for 'prestigious' items - a good suit, or a lawyer's or doctor's services would be priced in guineas.

I remember when I first started primary school our 'jotters' had tables of lengths and areas printed on the back cover - how many poles in a chain, chains in a furlong, hides in an acre and so on. Fortunately they were phased out before we had to learn them!

Decimalisation certainly made some calculations easier, though I agree with the Monster Raving Loony Party's proposal to introduce a 99p coin to pay for all those things that are priced just under a whole number of pounds!

This thread has certainly wandered a long way from the topic of spanking!

Formula for imagery on U.S. money*, coin or bills, is pretty straight-forward - picture of dead white guy on the front and some sort of building or national symbol on the back, with all bills being the proper color - green.

* We're talking REAL money here, not what some other companies entries use.

Boooring

As for all those imperial measurements, I always zone out a bit when I read the measurements of an implement in a story.

Myrkassi: how many poles in a chain, chains in a furlong, hides in an acre and so on.

Fortunately none of those except perhaps a "hide" (something to be tanned) have much relevance to spanking.

Diana, you say you zone out when Imperial measures are used. Surely, inches (approx 2.5 cm) when eg describing the width of a paddle, or a yard (approx 1 metre) when eg describing the length of a cane, are not too challenging?

I'm quite old. I have to convert to imperial before I fully understand a metric measure. Imperial was, of course, beaten into me when at school!

Geoffrey Stirling.

Talking of imperial vs metric - at my school my memory is the prep school cane was 28 inches long and quite thin, the middle school cane was 32 inches whilst the sixth form cane was a full 36 inches. No mention of a metre cane!

There used to be a thing called a yardstick, which was a long ruler to be applied to a backside. Later on when we brought the metric system in, there was a metre long ruler which the head teacher used for punishment. She referred to it as a 'strap', but it was what would have been called a yardstick. A yard in the imperial system was about 3 feet, which is equivalent to a metre in metric.

I've always remembered three helpful rhymes from my youth which were printed, if I remember rightly, on cornflakes packets:

A metre measures three foot three
It's longer than a yard, you see

A litre of water's
A pint and three quarters

Two and a quarter pounds of jam
Weighs about a kilogram

Here in the UK, these rhymes are still useful because we've got ourselves into a neither-one-thing-nor-the-other situation. Post Brexit, it's hard to imagine things ever changing. Any attempt to do away with road signs in miles or pints of beer would be met with public uproar!

There's a recent proposal to replace the pint with a 'schooner' holding 2/3 pint of beer. Let's hope it isn't put into practice!

A very useful rhyme Alan, although you forgot the fourth verse:

But six of the best,
Is still six of the best.