After Julia's funeral, John is given an envelope containing "a few bob" that she had been saving for him by her husband. How much would that have been converted to in US currency in 1957, and how much would it be worth today both ways?
I would appreciate the answer because I did try to find it for myself, but failed...
Thank you!
A "bob" was an affectionate name for a pre-decimalisation shilling. There were 12 old pennies to a shilling, and 20 shillings to a pound. In 1971, the UK currency was "decimalised", and a pound was made up of 100 new pennies.
An old shilling is equal to 5 new pennies. In 1957, a shilling would be worth about one pound (£1) by today's values.
However, "a few bob" is an expression, still in use, to mean an indeterminate amount of money. Usually it means quite a large sum. When the British say someone's "worth a few bob", we mean they're worth quite a bit of money, even rich. It's the British propensity for understatement! So I wouldn't take the "few bob" in the envelope too literally.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
Sorry so late...but thank you so much for the explanation...It did help. I gather Mimi probably saved a few or several dollars in U.S. currency.
shareA "bob" was an informal term for a shilling. There were 12 pence to a shilling, and 20 shillings to a pound. The guitar John buys is 7 pounds. When he says that Julia saved up "a few bob" I think this is typical British understatement and does not literally mean 2 or 3 shillings. I think he is trying to express "this is a small amount of money, but it is yours."
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