Two Pound Coins

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Steve T. - 08 Jan 2004 18:14 GMT

Overheard by a confectionery vending machine...

"I was going to buy some chocolate but I only have two pound coins".

I wondered exactly what the person meant. Did they have several coins
of the £2 variety or exactly two of the £1 sort - two pound-coins or
two-pound coins?

When written, should one hyphenate or otherwise punctuate? When spoken
is there any intonation which could reduce the ambiguity or should one
simple rephrase the sentence. If so, how?

Steve

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Matti Lamprhey - 08 Jan 2004 18:22 GMT

"Steve T." <steve@schrodinger.fsnet.co.uk> wrote...

> Overheard by a confectionery vending machine...
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> of the £2 variety or exactly two of the £1 sort - two pound-coins or
> two-pound coins?

It's difficult to know, but my guess would be that the speaker has £2
coins; if £1 coins were meant, the word "two" would probably have been
omitted.

> When written, should one hyphenate or otherwise punctuate? When spoken
> is there any intonation which could reduce the ambiguity or should one
> simple rephrase the sentence. If so, how?

When written, if you want to avoid using the unambiguous £1 and £2, you
should use "two one-pound coins" or "two-pound coins".

When spoken, "two" is stressed in "two-pound coins" and "pound" in "two
pound-coins".

Matti

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

Two Pound Coins