Naming The Coinage

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30152, 8 June 1963, Page 3

Naming The Coinage

Sir, —The names of the coins should proclaim as far as possible their value to a stranger in the country. The cent is good; it means a hundred or a hundredth part. The 10-cent piece should be the dece, which means 10 or a tenth. The unit could be called a zed, which would have association with New Zealand and would require no alterations to typing machines. The 25-cent piece is obviously a quarter and the 50-cent piece a half. This leaves only the flve-cent piece and if this is embossed with a kiwi on one side and a large "5 cents” on the other, there could be no mistake and it could be called a kiwi. The dece should be pronounced as in lease; it would be simipie and direct. What could be simpler than to write, say, Z 25 50, meaning £l2 15s?— Yours, etc., J. A. RADFORD. June 5, 1963. Sir.—A correspondent has suggested naming our 10shilling unit a "zed.” Has he considered the rather unpleasant sound of the plural, zeds? When spoken indistinctly, it might be confused with "cents." Another suggested name is "zeal.” This is more euphonious; but I expect that in our mouths it would be reduced to a "ziU,” which is less attractive and impressive. Might we not go back and restore the obsolete word, “noble”? The noble had about the same value as a dollar. The New Zealand noble, like the Australian royal, would with use soon shed the former associations of the word, and become accepted. I do not see why we should not keep the familiar word, penny, rather than change to cent, even though its relative value will change slightly.—Yours, etc., B. June 7, 1963.