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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:33 pm
by helloggs
What a topic...
For the German language, the Duden commission, or whatever these people that tell German speaking people how to write correctly call themselves again, decided in all its infinite wisdom that people should not put euro and cent into the plural form when talking about amounts. Like 112 euro, 12 cent. BUT, if you talk about certain notes and coins, you should form the plural euros and cents. (As in:"I found two euros on the street" e.g. two coins of one euro each.) Striking, eh?
I have found a
summary of these issues, but I had not enough patience nor interest to review it all in detail. It appears to be written shortly after 2002, but maybe it helps in this debate.
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:05 am
by tabbs
Does not have anything to do with a "Duden commission" (?) or the Orthography Council - in German (also in Dutch BTW) the domestic currency unit names are invariable indeed. It was "(Deutsche) Mark", in both singular and plural, and "Pfennig", sg+pl. It is "Euro", sg+pl, and "Cent", sg+pl.
Similarly, using "cents" for a number of 1 ct pieces follow the previous "Pfennige" usage. Nothing new about this.
Christian
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 10:58 am
by Phaseolus
I know that the EU had put some rules about the grammar and the orthograph and whatever about the euro.
Obviously, I am quite happy to see that every language tries to include the word "euro" and "eurocent" into its own frame ; once the euro will have some slang words it will mean that it really is part of everybody's live, forgetting as such previous currencies.
By the way, in France, we use "centimes" instead of "cents" ; I know that French Belgians use the word "cents" ; which sounds, in French, either like the American dollar "cents" or if pronounced on its French, it has the same sound as "hundred".
"3 cents", depending on the pronounciation means "3 eurocents" or "3 hundred"...
That's confusing, isn't it ?
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 12:55 pm
by tabbs
Phaseolus wrote:"3 cents", depending on the pronounciation means "3 eurocents" or "3 hundred"...
As far as I remember, that was one of the reasons why in France the term "centime(s)", referring to the cent coins, was supported even by the government. Back then, this sounded like a purely academic discussion to me. After all, such words are hardly ever used without any context.
"Trois cents, s'il vous plaît" could indeed mean €0.03 or €300.00
But using that as an argument for adding "ime(s)" is like saying that "Haben Sie 'nen Fünfer?" should not be used because it could be understood as asking for a €0.05 coin or a €5.00 note. Surprise, people understand it because it is used in a situation that makes the meaning obvious for both "sides".
Don't get me wrong - if in France you want to use "centimes" in everyday language, that is fine with me. But the argument that it is necessary as a means of disambiguation is something I don't really buy ...
Christian
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 5:09 pm
by Phaseolus
tabbs wrote:Don't get me wrong - if in France you want to use "centimes" in everyday language, that is fine with me. But the argument that it is necessary as a means of disambiguation is something I don't really buy ...
Well, it's not that we WANT to use it ; we simply USE it !
Since 01.01.2002, there has been not even the start of a begin of a discussion on that point ; it's "centime" and nothing else. The only thing is that it strikes me when I go to French Belgium and here some people use the word "cent" whilst speaking French, it just doesn't sound right to my ears... And neither to the ears of my father that lives in French Belgium...
Final dot ; "Point final"
and by the way, you do what you want in your language...
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:15 pm
by androl
doesn't this look like the idol on the 1€ and 2€ coins?
☥
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:32 pm
by tabbs
The two are not quite the same - "your" symbol (Ankh, or Anch) was used in Egyptian hieroglyphs and meant life. The Idol of Pomos is a symbol of fertility. But yes, the shapes, something in between a cross and a human figure, are somewhat similar ...
Christian
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 4:21 pm
by Tik Tak
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 4:45 pm
by tabbs
Funny - at their own web site, the (.wmv) video is much smaller.
http://www.euronews.net/index.php?page= ... 9408&lng=3 The YouTube video actually let you recognize the details, thanks!
Christian
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:13 pm
by helloggs
Probably because they don't have to pay bandwidth on youtube...
The starter kit looks great, much better than the crappy plastic bag that was issued here.
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:17 pm
by tabbs
helloggs wrote:The starter kit looks great, much better than the crappy plastic bag that was issued here.
What you see in that video* is the euro coin set - eight coins, one per denomination. And yes, those sets look nice, but of course you pay more than face value for them, just like for the coin sets from other countries ...
Here is an image of a Cyprus "starter kit":
http://www.euronumis.com/?p=309
Those bags look pretty much like the ones issued in other euro countries. After all, they are primarily made for consumers, meant to be torn apart and emptied.
* at approx. 4:20-4:30 in the German YouTube version
Christian