grand, quid, K

[Verona_82]

Hello!

Could anyone please tell me how I should use 'grand', 'quid', 'K'?

The car over there costs forty grand_ (no plural?)
This pen is two quid_ ( or quids??)
We offer a pay of three K (pronounced [kei], no plural??)

Thank you!

 

[Rover_KE]

Your sentences are correct.


The car over there costs forty grand.

This pen is two quid (BE slang for £2, if anybody's wondering).

We offer a salary of three K.

Rover

 

[Verona_82]

Thank you!

But why do you say 'two quid' but 'two bucks'?
Is a grand equal to 1,000 in any currency - dollars, pounds, euros, roubles etc?

 

[Rover_KE]

But why do you say 'two quid' but 'two bucks'?

There's no answer to that, Verona. Nobody said English was logical.

A grand is a thousand pounds, dollars or euros. I can't confirm that it's used for all currencies, though I suspect it is.

Rover

 

[5jj]

Nobody has mentioned it so far, but I assume everyone is aware that these terms are fairly informal.

 

[Raymott]

Since this is such an appropriately labelled thread, I might add some information.
I've been reading George Orwell's "Keep the Aspidistra Flying", which reminded me of some terms that will be unfamiliar to some English readers.

Before the days of decimalisation in British Empire/Commonwealth (before 14/2/1966 in Aus - I still remember the incessant TV jingle), the British money system went like this:

There were 12 pence (pennies) in a shilling (bob).
20 bob in a pound (quid)
A guinea was one pound and one shilling.
Two pennies was /'tuppence./
Three pennies = pron. /'thripence/
A half penny was pronounced /'heipny/
A farthing was a quarter of a penny.

This was the l.s.d system (Pounds shilling, pence). 3d. = threepence.
So, as an example from the above book, something which cost "thirty-one and six" was 1 pound, 11 shillings and sixpence. (31 shillings and six pence.)

More here:
Pound sterling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia