On Sun, May 18, 2003 at 01:59:55AM -0700, Ben Rosenberg wrote:
* John (yonaton@tds.net) [030517 12:47]: -> -> Allright Ben...I'll bite...what's 'Loonies and Toonies', heh?
They are Canadian 1 and 2 dollar coins. They got rid of paper 1's in I believe 1996. I actually think this is pretty cool. It's amazing how little change buys you in the U.S. and people look at you like your nuts when you spend it.
Indeed ;)
I was in that habit when I first started visiting Canada some years ago...and by the 3rd day there I would have this huge amount of change. First time it happened I emptied out my jacket and $80 in change..most of which were 1's and 2's. It was a strange thing to get use to.
On my first trip to the states I was struck by the opposite phenomenon. In Denmark it's coins up to and including 20 kroner, which (almost) buys you a 1.5 liter of soda. So there I was, in the states, going "Hey man... I just keep forking over *bills* all the time? What is the *matter* with this place?" ;D It seemed utterly ridiculous to me, that I should be paying for a coke in bills... I even tried to explain to this guy I was staying with, the advantage of being able to tell the value of each coin, just by sticking your hand in the pocket. And that said coins will, in fact, buy you *anything*. Steve was unimpressed: "Yeah but if you look at the corner of each bill, there's the value printed right there" So I went; "Sure, but you still have to *look* at the money, you can't *feel* the value." Steve; "Of *course* you can't *feel* the value! It's a *bill*!" Me; "So what if you're in a bar, and it's darkish and you're getting drunk?" Steve; "You just find a spot with enough light, that you can see" Me, "But it's so easy to just pick the coins you need from the pocket, and pay with that. So you don't have to *look* at the money..." Steve (thinking in nickels and dimes); "Dude, you don't pay with *coins* in a bar!" ...I gave up. ;) He was impressed that I knew how to operate the coffemachine, though... not to mention when I started to dismantle the steering column on this car, to fix the ignition key mechanism... "Dude, you're crazy!" Cheers, Jon Clausen -- If we can't be free, at least we can be cheap!