Euro et cent

[idun]

When they, the governments, eventually decided on the € they also decided that there would be a 'cent'.

A primary school teacher nearly had a fit when he heard, you couldn't say 'cent' instead of 'centime' apparently; the children would not understand. And you couldn't have 'cents cent' which would be a €.

And it must not be forgotten that until the € most people I know used the centime as a proper unit, an old franc. I'm not talking about people who were living during the old franc, but young people too. So you'd hear something was dix mille balle, which actually meant 1000french francs, or they talked in 'millions'. And if children who were not born then, could comprehend that centimes were being used as francs, why couldn't they understand that a cent was a hundreth of a €.

What have we now......... I get so ANNOYED and IRRITATED, everyone called a negligible amount a centime d'euro! It was agreed, even by the french that it would be a 'cent', so why say so much for so little!

Ofcourse, France is the country that likes to make a pig's breakfast of numbers anyway, the lovely septante, huitante and nonante, are sensible ways of saying numbers, but not in France.............4x20+10 for 90, great!

Am I ranting, being a grumpy old woman. Perhaps, but as they say, call a spade a spade and call a cent a cent![:D]

[mint]

I disagree, id, I think "centime" is a very nice word and I always say "centime" and, if I can be bothered to write out the whole amount in words, I write "centime" on cheques as well.

[idun]

But but, it isn't a centime, you should be saying centime d'euro to make yourself clear, follow the trend, or is that the moutons?[;-)] Watch any french tv or listen to people and they say the xxxxxxx lot![:D]

Is it legal to write centime on cheques, it isn't legal to say write, nonante neuf? or so I've been told........;and that is perfectly good french.

 

[allanb]

Idun, I don't know exactly what your point is, but the official name in France (maybe not in the whole of Euroland) is centime.  Here is a quotation from the code monétaire, easily found on Wikipedia and elsewhere: "la monnaie de la France est l'euro. Un euro est divisé en cent centimes." 

And in my experience French people use centime(s) in ordinary speech.  It should be easy to test: for instance, ask a French friend "La moitié d'un euro, c'est combien?" I think he'll probably say "cinquante centimes" – probably with a pitying look, as if you couldn't divide by two.

I agree with your view of French numbers.  But where the unit of money is concerned, it surely makes sense not to use a word that sounds exactly the same as 100 (not to mention sans, sent, and sang).

[andyh4]

My understanding is that when the Euro was set up, France was specifically given dispensation to use centime instead of cent, for the simple reason that cent already had a meaning in French.

[idun]

Just centime? my friends used to say 'centime d'euro' as opposed to calling the old centimes old francs...............And on France 2 Journal de 20h they never ever cease to say 'centime d'euro'.

And I agree andyh4, apparently the french in spite of with agreeing to it being called the cent then actually wanted a dispensation as they couldn't get to grips with having to call it a cent.

 

[liz]

Being a grumpy old woman myself I usually get steamed up about things like this but in this case I’d just say ‘chill’. How else can you distinguish, when speaking, between deux cent and deux cents? I am sure that the French had agreement when the Euro was introduced to use centime rather than cent because of the duplication. Personally I find the word centime trips of the tongue nicely.

Curiously, I noticed in Greece earlier this year that they referred to the small coins as ‘lepta’ which is the same name they used for the hundredth part of the Drachma. I would not be at all surprised to find that other Euro using countries do the same.

[Chancer]

Well my speech is completely b*****dised, this morning on the phone I said 'il cout dix-huit livres, quatre vingt dix neuf centimes"

I have found that pounds dont work, it has to be livres, and pence or even sents dont work so I have to use centimes.

[idun]

Liz, I suppose it is how I distinguish between 'live' and 'live'. The context is a clue. Thing is since the € people don't usually talk in centimes any more like they used to when they were always talking in ancien francs which are now ancient centimes. If I said gazole had gone up si'san, I doubt that anyone would think that it had gone up by sixhundred whatever, would they, or are people really that sot?

Chill, moi. Need something to get my current very low blood pressure up, or is 95/66 normal?

[Chancer]

Yes its in the normal healthy range, it would be high for me, my average is 88/50.

[idun]

It isn't normal, I know mine is low. I suppose that it depends on the person, but still, yours is bordering on hypo Chancer,  and you don't need to be blacking out when you are diving. Please do take care.

[Pierre ZFP]

Off-topic but can I average out your low blood pressure with some of my high BP ? [:-))]

You shouldn't drive with very low BP

You know it makes cents  [;-)]

 

 

[Chancer]

Shouldnt dive or drive, or both?

My BP whilst being beneath the given healthy range isnt a cause for concern, all athletes have similar or lower BP's, mine was higher before I got fit but always at the lower end of the scale, good genetics inherited from my father.

I have never fainted or had dizzy spells, I do lose the sight in my left eye if I get up from the floor too quick but that has only been since a series of eye operations and is most certainly a restricted blood vessel, the danger in diving is of a syncope from CO2 saturation.

I have to have a medical each year to carry out any sports in France, I go to a FFESSM médécin federal and he always compliments me on my low BP, resting and recovery heartrates (resting average 55 bpm)

[idun]

Don't drive, would that I could, I am sick of being chauffered. I haven't driven for 7 weeks now due to my constant dizzieness and the medication for it. Ct scan of my head next to see what's up and low blood pressure apparently isn't helping.

 

 

 

 

[Chancer]

Sorry to hear that, I hope it all works out.