Dear Editor,
I would like to thank Rudy Ydenberg [Penny and pound clarification, March 31 Letters, langleyadvance.com] for pointing out my lack of clarity in my recent Odd Thoughts column [Old adages don’t always translate, March 29, Langley Advance].
He is correct in pointing out that the pound in the expression “in for a penny, in for a pound” refers to currency.
But he is incorrect when he states that that pound does not refer to weight.
That pound actually refers to both, if you go back far enough.
The pound of currency was originally based on the value of one pound of sterling silver… which at one point also happened to be the value of a quid – a one-pound twisted knot of dried tobacco.
Bob Groeneveld, Langley