The Penny - English Proverbs and Sayings

Sometimes when you think you are economising there is a tendency to focus on the wrong things and neglect the larger picture.

For Example:

Saving money by taking up an offer of a 0% credit card balance transfer on a large amount of debt from your current credit cards to avoid paying interest on your current loan for, say, six months, but consequently finding you are asked to pay a higher mortgage percentage rate on your new mortgage because of the temporary decrease in your credit score, costing thousands.

Receiving a 10% discount for opening a new store credit card, but paying the balance off slowly instead of clearing the debt at the end of every month, thus adding interest fees (and possibly late fees) usually at the rate of about 23% per annum.

Driving miles out of your way to save a marginal amount of money on goods or petrol, or looking for cheap petrol but buying a vehicle which is a gas guzzler.

Not paying for professional advice or work (lawyer, tax accountant, builder etc.) and doing it yourself to save money, but then finding yourself in a mess and having to pay for the consequences and in addition probably having to pay a professional much more to get you out of trouble.

Downloading music illegally to save a small sum per CD, but being sued for hundreds and then settling out of court.

Buying cheap clothing and shoes which have to be replaced more frequently because of poor quality.

Parking your car without feeding the meter because you were only going to be a minute, and then returning to find you have a parking ticket because the parking warden had a quota to fulfil and was lying in wait for someone just like you.

Spending hours completing online surveys or writing pay-per-posts for pennies, whilst your time could be better spent improving skills to land a better job or developing a winning business plan.

Haggling for price reductions of totally insignificant amounts at car boot sales and charity shops, but buying a new car or having an expensive beauty make-over.

picture: eyel_mexico

There seem to be various versions of this saying, and some even substitute the word "pin" for "penny", as in "See a Pin, Pick it up, and all day long you'll have good luck".

Here are some of the other versions:

See a penny, pick it up,
all day long you'll have good luck,
give it to a faithful friend,
then your luck will never end

and

See a penny, pick it up
All day long you'll have good luck
See a penny let it lie,
Need a penny till you die.

or even

Find a penny, pick it up.
All day long you'll have good luck.
See a penny leave it there,
bad luck comes! So beware
(a bit awkward with its scanning, that last one)

Not much to say about this really - the sentiment is clear, but not so clear whether it is a harmless bit of superstition, or whether it is a metaphor commenting on being careful in order to generate wealth....and does it really matter?

The saying seems to be a corruption of the original saying "Don't spoil the sheep for a ha'porth of tar" , meaning that if your sheep is injured, don't let it become infected by not putting a ha'porth of tar to seal the wound, as was traditional in the olden days.

The confusion arose because in some parts of Great Britain the word "Sheep" was pronounced "Ship", and this confusion was further exacerbated by the fact that tar was used both to heal wounds and also to waterproof ships.

People often abbreviate the expression to "Don't spoil the Ship..."

Meaning: If you are going to do something or go in for something, you might as well do it in a big way, or wholeheartedly

photo: thanks to eburt

The penny-farthing, the first machine to be called 'a bicycle', is a term used to describe a type of bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel, popular after the boneshaker, until the development of the safety bicycle, in the 1880s.

The name "Penny Farthing" comes from its likeness to the British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other, so that the side view resembled a penny leading a farthing.

The danger: The rider sat high and nearly over the front axle so that, when the wheel struck rocks and ruts, or under hard braking, the rider could be pitched forward off the bicycle head-first, called "taking a header". Headers were relatively common, and a significant hazard, sometimes causing death. Riders coasting down hills often took their feet off the pedals and put them over the tops of the handlebars, so they would be pitched off feet-first instead of head-first.

Construcion of the Penny Farthing: Penny-farthing bicycles had cast iron frames, solid-rubber tyres, and plain bearings for pedals, steering, and wheels. They were durable and required little service, and it is said that when cyclist Thomas Stevens rode around the world in 1880s, he reported only one significant mechanical problem in over 20,000 km, caused when the local military confiscated his bicycle and damaged the front wheel.

Improvement of the Penny Farthing over its predecessor: In spite of the dangers, the penny-farthing was simpler, lighter, and faster than the safer velocipedes of the time. Additionally, the large wheel rode over bumps in the road more smoothly than smaller-wheeled vehicles.

Progress: Two new developments changed this situation, and led to the rise of the Safety bicycle. The first was the chain drive, originally used on tricycles, allowing a gear ratio to be chosen independent of the wheel size. The second was the pneumatic tyre, allowing smaller wheels to provide a smooth ride. By 1893 high-wheelers were no longer being produced.

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First quoted by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr William Lowndes (1652-1724), English Politician

Meaning : If you take care of little things one at a time, they can add up to big things.

Meaning: Money not spent is money that will still be beneficial later as it remains in your pocket

Well, what are your thoughts?

Meaning: A belated realization of something after a period of confusion or misunderstanding

.....as in "by the time the penny dropped and she realized what an evil bastard he was, she was already married to him, with four children in tow"

In the late 1830's Social reformer Rowland Hill inspired mass communication, by creating the radical principle that a standard letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight could be sent to any part of the United Kingdom for one penny, and he proposed "a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp, and covered at the back with a glutinous wash".

The result was the Penny Black, the world's first prepaid adhesive postage stamp issued on 6th May 1840 and followed by the rarer Twopenny Blue on 8th May 1840, early in the reign of Queen Victoria; her instantly recognisable portrait by William Wyon in 1834 when she was only 15 was used.

Other countries followed suit and by 1860 about 85 countries or other entities had issued stamps.

As the Penny Black was the first postage stamp, the country name was omitted, a tradition continued with all the stamps of Great Britain. The identifying characteristic is the monarch's head which always faces to the left on definitive stamps.
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A postal delivery system had actually been in place since 1510 and the postage was paid by the receiver rather than the sender. The purpose of the new stamp, the Penny Black, was to indicate that the postage had been prepaid.

By prepaying the postage, the difficulty the Post Office had experienced in collecting the money was reduced and money could therefore be saved by the Post Office

With the advent of prepaid postage Rowland Hill also advocated that houses should have letter boxes to facilitate delivery of the letter.
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The stamps were initially not perforated, but had to be cut with scissors. Perforations were introduced in 1854. Each stamp had its own 'small crown' watermark and the line-engraved printing method was used, in which the ink was in grooves on a plate and pressure was used to force the ink onto the paper.

The Penny Black is not rare - about 68 million were issued in 1840-41. Prices vary according to condition, and as the stamps were cut by scissors, the best prices are for stamps which still have all four margins of the design intact.

Proverbial Meaning: A person with a bad reputation who has left their town or village, one who causes trouble and turmoil in the community, always returns.

Literal Origins: A shopkeeper will return a bad penny (i.e. a forgery) when he discovers the mistake he made in accepting it.

Common Usage: This proverb is still in common usage. It is spoken in a few different ways, for example:
When such a person returns into people's lives, often preceded by a sigh, "A bad penny always turns up."
Or, much more common, in a shortened form to describe someone: "He's a 'bad penny' ."

Picture: The Prodigal Son returns

Penny Lane

In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to know.
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello.

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar,
The little children laugh at him behind his back.
And the banker never wears a mack
In the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back

In penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen.
He likes to keep his fire engine clean,
It's a clean machine.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
A four of fish and finger pies
In summer, meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And tho' she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway.

In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer,
We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim.
And then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back.
Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies,
Penny Lane.

picture: Chuck Ayoub

Penny Shares or Stocks are often traded through over-the-counter services, and the term can be applied to any stock which trades at a low price and with a relatively low volume. Most Penny Shares are shares of small companies and information about a penny stock company can be hard to find.

As with any other stock, an investor buys the penny shares hoping that the company will grow, thereby increasing the value of his equity stake in the company, and making a profit on sale. The main difference between penny stocks and larger stocks, such as those listed in the DOW Stock Exchange, is that penny stocks have enormous daily variance in value and there is therefore the potential to carry a large reward for little outlay, although they are a very risky investment because they are so volatile.

For big companies, when a stock goes up or down a few dollars in one day, if the stock is trading at $50, it might change only a couple percentage points. This would be considered a large change for one day in a normal stock. In a penny stock that costs less than a dollar, a change in value of one or two cents could amount to the same percentage change. The lower the price of the penny stock the greater this risk/reward is magnified. If a stock only cost 10 cents per share, an increase of 1 penny in a day would be 10 percent, a return that many would consider very good for an entire year. The downside is that if the price falls by a penny or two, the penny stocks decline just as quickly.

Since penny stocks generally trade with lower volumes than large stocks, and cost much less per share, speculators can drive up the prices of a given penny stock by injecting a large amount of money into them. This provides a means of doctoring the market: the speculators pump money into a penny stock, which raises the price, and consequently the stock then draws attention from the financial industry, drawing in funds from average investors, which further drives up the price.

And as this happens, the speculators pull their money out, making a profit, while the other investors lose money as the price falls back down toward its original level.

Penny stocks are often used as a part of email scams, which promise amazing returns, when in reality the mass emails are a way of pumping up prices momentarily for scammers to sell inflated shares and make money. Since information on penny stocks is often difficult to find, they are easier to manipulate. Considering the dangers involved in penny stocks, the average investor is usually better off putting their money elsewhere.

Reader, my fingers, too, have been burnt!

Meaning: I need to go to the toilet

The same activity would more likely cost you 10p in most station toilets these days.