Key words and phrases

fluctuation – коливання

to hoard – запасати, накопичувати

portability – портативність

durability – міцність

uniformity – однаковість, однорідність

dollar bill – доларова банкнота

to mint coins – чеканити монети

forgery – фальшиві гроші

to handle – мати в обігу, тримати

Money

Money is used for buying or selling goods, for measuring value and for storing wealth. Almost every society has a money economy based on coins and paper bills of one kind or another. However this has not always been true. In primitive societies a system of barter was used. Barter was a system of direct change of goods. Somebody could exchange a sheep, for example, for anything in the market place that they considered to be of equal value. Barter, however, was a very unsatisfactory system because people’s needs seldom coincided. People needed more practical systems of exchange and various money systems developed based on goods which members of society recognized as having value. Cattle, grains, shells, feathers, salt, elephant tusks and tobacco have all

been used.

Precious metals gradually took over because they were portable, durable, recognizable and divisible into larger and smaller units of value. A coin is a piece of metal usually disk-shaped, which bears lettering, designs or numbers showing its value. Until the 18th and 19th centuries coins were given monetary worth based on the exact amount of metal contained in them, but most modern are based on face value – the value that governments choose to give them, irrespective of the actual content.

Most governments issue paper money in the form of bills, which are really ready to pay. Paper money is obviously easier to handle and much more convenient in the modern world. Cheques and credit cards are being used increasingly and it is possible to imagine a world where money in the form of coins and paper currency will no longer be used.

The British currency is the pound sterling. In each pound there are 100 pence. Pounds are indicated by the symbol W before the amount. Pence are indicated by the letter “p”. Five pounds is written therefore as W5, fifty pence as 50p. If one wants to combine the two, the “p” is dropped. For example, nine pounds and fifty seven pence is written as W9.57. British currency uses both notes and coins: the one pound piece (W1); the fifty pence piece (50p); the twenty pence piece (20p); the ten pence piece (10p); the five pence piece (5p); the two pence piece (2p); the one pence piece (1p). Each coin has the date, it was minted, stamped on one side.

There are five denominations of notes. The lowest note in value is the W5 note, the highest is the W100 note. In between these, there is the W10, W20, and W50 note. Every note has a serial number to show when it was issued and a watermark to prevent forgeries (false notes).