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Discussion Groups / English Usage / March 2007Break a sou
Hello: What would "break a sou/(also 'cent', I guess)," mean here? Would that be "earn some serious money?" ---- I think I liked Cronstadt's joint best of all, perhaps because he chalked the meal up on the wall each time. Not that it eased my conscience to see what I owed him, because I had no intention of paying him back nor had he any il lusions about being requited. No, it was the odd numbers which intrigued me. He used to figure it out to the last centime. If I was to pay in full I would have had to break a sou. Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, p. ---- Thanks. Marius Hancu Marius Hancu filted: >Hello: > >What would "break a sou/(also 'cent', I guess)," mean here? >Would that be "earn some serious money?" "Break" in connection with a denomination of money means to make change for it in smaller pieces...you'll hear it when someone's paying a small amount and laments "I don't have anything smaller; I'll have to break a twenty".... >---- >I think I liked Cronstadt's joint best of all, perhaps because he [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, p. >---- ....r  Signature"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!" "You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!" > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > the last centime. If I was to pay in full I would have had to break a > sou. My take: Constadt was so accurate and precise about money, that he calculated the price to the last cent, or even part of a cent (or sou) so in order to pay the correct amount you must break a cent. > > I think I liked Cronstadt's joint best of all, perhaps because he > > chalked the meal up on the wall each time. Not that it eased my [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > calculated the price to the last cent, or even part of a cent (or sou) > so in order to pay the correct amount you must break a cent. Yes, it works. Thank you both. Marius Hancu [snip] > My take: Constadt was so accurate and precise about money, that he > calculated the price to the last cent, or even part of a cent (or sou) > so in order to pay the correct amount you must break a cent. [snip] The reference to a "sou" was made because of the small value of that obsolete French coin; see:. http://www.iht.com/articles/2001/12/18/eurolang_ed3_.php ...the French will continue to speak of the humble sou, though this has long since disappeared as a coin... Today, a better reference would be to a Zimbabwean half-cent coin; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwean_dollar "...Coins were issued since 1980 in denominations of ½, 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents as well as ZWD 1, 2, and 5.... They remain legal tender, but, due to their minuscule value, they function as gambling tokens in Zimbabwean casinos...." [Note: on 27 July 2006, just before a revaluation, the US-dollar was equal to 550,000 Z-dollars, so 1,100,000 Z-half-cent coins equaled one US penny.] -- Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Thanks. > Marius Hancu Literally, Poetically, I think to break a sou, to split a hair. Jim > What would "break a sou/(also 'cent', I guess)," mean here? > Would that be "earn some serious money?" [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, p. Sou was informal French for the 5-centime coin. The charge for each meal was exact to 1 centime, i.e. the bill was not rounded off for speed and mutual convenience (as was apparently done in other restaurants). This characterizes Cronstadt (as either avaricious or extremely precise: this paragraph does not suggest which applies.) SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) |
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