[Vocabulary] saying prices in Britain

[heyt]

Hello,

I would like to ask for some help with prices.

Could you please tell me if I can say 1p as 'one pee', or 'pee' is used above 2p only.

I am also confused whether I have to say 'pounds' in 2.50 for example?

Thank you very much.

heyt

 

[Tdol]

1 Yes, you can say "one pee".
2 If the context is clearly about money, then two-fifty will do.

 

[Rover_KE]

I agree with Tdol, though some of us prefer to say 'a penny, two pence, five pence' etc.

'Two pounds fifty' is clearly £2.50. 'Two-fifty' could be taken to mean £250, or 'two hundred and fifty pounds', depending on the context.

 

[emsr2d2]

With "1p", it depends on the context. In shop work, if you were giving someone "1p" change, you would say "[A] penny change" or "And there's your penny change", not "There's your one pee change".

As the others said, context will dictate how you word prices. If you're selling your car and someone says "How much are you selling it for?" and you reply "Two fifty", you might find that they [jokingly] reach into their pocket and pull out £2.50 to buy your car. Common sense would tell them that you probably meant £250, although that would be a very cheap car and I don't recommend buying it! The seller might also say "Two and a half", which means £2500 (two and a half thousand, two and a half grand).

We frequently use contractions for even higher prices.
- How much is your house on the market for?
- Forty-three, nine fifty. (£43,950)

- How much did you sell your castle for?
- 9 mil. (£9,000,000)