Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2021 July 26

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July 26

"Fiver" and "tenner" in the USA

The above question about twenty-pound notes made me think about another questions. Do Americans ever call $5 or $10 notes "fivers" or "tenners"? I have seen such usage in the UK but not in the USA. JIP | Talk 01:41, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

I've heard fiver in America. Not so sure about tenner. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:40, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

"Fiver" is rare and "tenner" even rarer. "Fin" was very old slang (like from 1950s or earlier) for a 5-dollar bill. I think most here would not recognize it now, unless they watch old movies. There was also "sawbuck" and "double sawbuck" which I think were $10 and $20 but I'm not even sure. "C-note" or "Century" are $100. "Benjamin" or "Ben Franklin" are also $100, referring to Benjamin Franklin's portrait which is on that bill, but I think the names of people depicted on the other denominations are not used that way. "Benjamin" is now mostly heard in the phrase "it's all about the Benjamins" (i.e. it's all about money), referring to things like political corruption. "Single" for a $1 bill ("do you have three singles?") is still in fairly common use.

Added regarding the "twenty pound bill" mentioned above: heh, I caught the American. I had asked it because I'm reading some crappy fiction set in the UK that uses UK spellings and phrases, but that mentioned twenty-pound bills, which didn't sound right even to me here in California. So now I'm pretty sure the author was from the US. 2601:648:8202:350:0:0:0:2B99 (talk) 03:58, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

You're right about sawbuck being a $10 bill—a frequent usage by Archie Goodwin, who, however, was wont to use finif rather than fin for a $5 one. Deor (talk) 20:27, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

At least in my dialect, "five dollar bill", "ten dollar bill", "five spot", "ten spot", "single", "fiver", "tenner", "fin", "finif" and "sawbuck" all sound at least dated. And fin and sawbuck might not even be recognizable to the younger generation. "Finif" is even more likely not to be understood. And I've NEVER encountered "century" in this context, so I am sure that it would be unknown to those younger than me (47). I am much more likely to hear a simple "can I borrow a five?" --Khajidha (talk) 01:07, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

Per Duncan, above, a 20 pound bill would be an invoice for 20 pounds. The double meaning apparently doesn't really exist in the UK, so this line from an old song wouldn't work: "In father's stocking Christmas morn / I never will forget / He found a 50 dollar bill / He hasn't paid it yet!" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:03, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

I am almost 70 and have lived in Michigan and California all my life. I agree that "fiver" and "tenner" are recognizable, in context, as $5 and $10 bills. A bit more common, in my experience, are "five spot" and "ten spot". The description of "Benjamins" is accurate, and "Jackson" is sometimes used for $20. In the 1980s, "A Jackson for Jackson" was a grassroots fundraising slogan for Jesse Jackson's two presidential campaigns. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 04:10, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

Bugs, yeah, I understand about the bill/invoice thing. US currency is always called bills though, to the extent that "five dollar note" would probably be interpreted as referring to an IOU for $5. OTOH, I still have a UK five-pound note left over from a trip to Scotland I made some years ago, and it wouldn't sound right to call it a five-pound bill, even in US English. Duncan, I think those colorful names for denominations (ten-spot etc.) have all mostly fallen out of usage since currency just isn't used as much now as in the past. A guy at work was collecting payments ($20 per person) for a group outing and asked me to send him the amount by Venmo, which I don't know how to use, so I asked if I could just give him $20 cash. He was rather confused by this suggestion for a noticible moment, then said ok.

A Ken Follett novel referred to someone stashing 5000 pounds in "oncers" (a minor plot point revolved around this) without explaining what oncers were. I think from context that they are 100 pound notes but I've never been sure of that. IIRC the book was "Paper Money". 2601:648:8202:350:0:0:0:2B99 (talk) 09:47, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

Ah, but is it a UK fiver, or a Scottish fiver? --ColinFine (talk) 18:26, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

"I think you'll find that's legal tender, pal." Princess Persnickety (talk) 09:19, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

Or one from Nor'n Ir'n? Martinevans123 (talk) 18:59, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

No, "oncers" could only mean "one pound notes" (which were discontinued in 1988, being replaced by coins – Follett's book was published in 1977). The Bank of England hasn't issued £100 notes since 1945, although the Scottish and Northern Irish banks, and Jersey, continued to do so and they are still in circulation.

Being the most common, £1 notes (particularly "used" and so randomly numbered rather than being part of a just-issued, identifiable sequence) were traditionally a favoured medium of stashing illegally obtained (or undeclared for tax) funds. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.27.141 (talk) 12:28, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

An' I guess them Yanks ain't got no ponies nor monkeys neither? Martinevans123 (talk) 13:06, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

In London we used to have "ladies" - Lady Godiva = "fiver" in rhyming slang. Alansplodge (talk) 20:49, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

We used to have Bradburys, which could be 10 shillings or a pound. DuncanHill (talk) 20:58, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

What does "five decades" mean in this context?

• He is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, having cultivated a legacy over a career spanning five decades.

What does "five decades" mean in this context? Sting entered in 1980's so how 5 decades?. Source: Sting (wrestler) Rizosome (talk) 14:12, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

Eighties, Nineties, Noughties, 2010's, and Twenties. Five decades. DuncanHill (talk) 14:29, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

"Decade" can mean two different things. It can mean "exactly 10 years" or it can mean "a specific 10 year span like the 1980s or 2010s". In the context of the above statement, "spanning 5 decades", it generally means "during parts of at least 5 specific named decades" rather than "50 years". Strictly speaking, 31 years is enough to "span 5 decades", for example 1989-2020 is a 31 year difference, but a person who did some task over that time period hit 5 enumerated decades (the ones listed above). --Jayron32 17:56, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

Minnie Miñoso comes to mind, as his career touched five decades, though only parts of 20 seasons. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:48, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

Or Gladys Tantaquidgeon, whose life remarkably spanned three centuries. 2603:6081:1C00:1187:F8D6:B85E:D710:1907 (talk) 22:21, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

It's a bit of a finger-tip "span", really. Martinevans123 (talk) 22:23, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

"Touched" would be more precise, but frequent common usage is "spanned". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:19, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

Like when a bridge is said to "span" two continents.^[1] It would be strange to read that the bridge touches two continents, but what is spanned by the bridge is the Bosporus strait, not the continents. Funny enough, you can say both "the bridge spans the strait" and "the span bridges the strait".  --Lambiam 08:56, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

While 1989-2020 is a 31-year difference, there are 32 actual years involved. --Khajidha (talk) 17:19, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

Same principle that enabled Cliff Richard to reach the UK Top 5 across eight decades while being active for a mere 61 years. --Wrongfilter (talk) 09:05, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

If his career began in 1985; the fifth decade would have to start in 2025; it's only 2021. Georgia guy (talk) 17:31, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

Please read what we said. 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s are one-two-three-four-five different enumerated decades. One of the ways to understand the phrase "spanning five decades" is not just "having spanned 50 years", it is "having covered time during 5 different enumerated decades". I hope that helps. --Jayron32 17:41, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

Exactly. The sentence is saying that he has wrestled in five different decades, not that he has been wrestling for five decades. --Khajidha (talk) 18:08, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

I didn't even know Cliff Richard could wrestle! Martinevans123 (talk) 18:24, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

Maybe he could wrestle and Sting could sing his entrance theme. --Khajidha (talk) 18:55, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

"Pop stars... know your limits!" Martinevans123 (talk) 20:11, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

User:Jayron32, I understand; please note that a decade can start at any time; our calendar's starting point is subjective. Georgia guy (talk) 18:57, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

Not subjective, conventional or arbitrary, if you like. --Wrongfilter (talk) 19:04, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

Yes, we have the Noughties and the Twenties purely for the sake of convention/ convenience. As Georgia guy says, "a decade" really just means a duration of ten years (... which might include three leap years, or only two?). Martinevans123 (talk) 20:11, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

Look, these idioms and phrases can mean whatever you all want them to. If you want to understand how other people are actually using them, we've explained that. --Jayron32 11:09, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

Look, these idioms and phrases (without some kind of clumsy in-line or footnoted explanation) may cause some readers to get confused. Perhaps an encyclopaedia is better avoiding the use of idioms? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:16, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

Indeed we should. --Jayron32 11:16, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

Though since such idioms are not infrequently used in the wild about particular performers, it might also behove us to ensure that they are explained in the relevant articles (or by wikilinks). {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.27.141 (talk) 20:03, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

Martinevans123: It is also possible for a period of ten consecutive years to contain just one leap year (e.g., 2093 to 2102, 2094 to 2103, 2097 to 2106, and 2098 to 2107 all contain the exceptional century year 2100, so the only leap year is 2096 for the first two ranges and 2104 for the other two ranges). GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 20:43, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

Ah, many thanks for checking. I had forgotten about the 100 year exception. I probably won't be around to appreciate it. But I guess Cliff will still be going strong. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:14, 28 July 2021 (UTC)