Talk:Shilling

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On a Danish discusion-forum link title I found a reference to this article, refering to the fact that the shilling wasn't issued untill 1548. I will not question that, but only remark that, to my knowledge the shilling was used as a figure many hundred years before that - but only as a way of counting prices (which would then be paid in the only "real" coin - the penny). I am sorry, but I do not have any links support this - do anyone know if I am right?

Well - if I am, then this article might confuse people to think that the concept of the shilling only existed after 1548, which would be misleading.

I've added the note about the alternate (modern) meaing of the phrase "to take the King's shilling" and updated the description of the phrase to "cut someone off without a shilling" to make use of the present tense. I'm under 30, from Scotland (although I now live in London) and am very familer with these phrases and regard them as being in current usage, particularly in Scotland (though I would estimate they are more commonly used by older members of population). I'm not sure how common they are across the rest of the country though, both phrases do seem, anecdotally, to have dropped out of current usage in southern England. FridayUK 02:46, 26 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]