Betting and money go in hand in hand. Without money, in the form of a stake, betting would lose much of its interest and surely wouldn’t be anything like the global phenomenon it is today. Correctly predicting a sporting event is satisfying, but the prospect of financial gain is the driving motivation for most bettors – despite the fact that the bookies almost always win in the long run!
Punters – and human beings in general – have such a soft spot for cash that we have lent it various nicknames over the years. Bucks, dough, moolah, filthy lucre and many more have all entered the common language to refer to those essential coins and notes in general terms, whilst other phrases represent specific sums. The term quid is just one example of the latter, the slang name for £1 coming from the Latin phrase quid pro quo, meaning something for something.
Cockney rhyming slang has its “Lady Godivas” (fivers), “Ayrton Sennas” (tenners) and many more convoluted creations, which, for better or worse, are largely restricted to the banks of the Thames. However, several money monikers have hit the mainstream over the years and proved particularly popular in the betting world. Here we look at a selection of the most common and examine the origins of – what, at first glance – would appear to be slightly bizarre terminology.
Score – £20
The term Score stems from an ancient numbering system used by shepherds to count their passing flock, which involved making a “score” mark on a stick or rock each time the count reached 20. This vigesimal counting system is old enough to have appeared in the Bible – Psalm 90:10 reads, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten”, meaning 70 years.
This terminology persisted over the centuries, with “scoru” meaning 20 in Old English, before reverting to the original score. The vigesimal counting system continues to be, at least partly, used in many other languages, e.g., France, where the number 80 is expressed as quatre vingt, which translates as four twenties. Here in the UK, the main remnant of this historical system lies in our reference to a £20 note – whether in relation to how much we have spent at the pub or our planned bet on the next favourite at Newmarket.
Pony – £25
Whilst the origin of the term Score is widely accepted, there are various theories relating to that of Pony. The first states that £25 was the standard price of a small horse back in the 1700s. However, many historians dispute this, stating that £25 would have been a near astronomical sum to pay for a pony in that era.
A more sophisticated explanation is that the term stems from the Latin phrase “legem pone”, meaning “payment of money”. However, the most popular, and probably most likely, theory is that the phrase was brought back to London from India during the age of the British Empire, which reached its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. All Indian banknotes at that time featured an animal, with the star of the show on the 25 Rupee note being a pony.
You do need to be a little careful with this slang business, as pony is also used as a shortened version of the rhyming slang pony and trap – which means something rather different to £25, and definitely isn’t something you would like to find in your pocket!
Ton – £100
One of the most common, widely used terms on this list, Ton is used in finance and sport, e.g., scoring 100 in darts or cricket. Despite that widespread use, the exact origins of the term are difficult to pin down.
The word itself is rooted in the French “tun”, which denoted the largest cask within a ship’s hold. Hence the use of Ton to designate a large amount of anything, e.g., “I can’t pick that up, it weighs a ton”. Of course, ton and tonne are also specific measures – equating to between 2000lb and 2400lb depending on whether we are referring to a long ton, short ton, tonne, shortweight ton, or longweight ton. Nothing straightforward in the world of tons, it seems, with the fact that none of these measures are even close to 100, further muddying the waters.
However, there was a time when a ton was used most commonly as a measure, not of weight, but capacity, with a freight ton used to describe a volume of between 35 and 100 cubic feet. Given the reference to the number 100, this would seem as likely a reason as any that the word ton has come to represent 100 of anything, including 100 shiny £1 coins – or a 100 quid if you prefer!
Monkey – £500
What do you call a collection of 20 Ponies? In the world of financial slang – and nowhere else – the answer to that question is a Monkey. As with the Pony, there are contrasting theories behind the emergence of the term in relation to the number 500.
Theory one suggests that the usage stems from the phrase “monkey on your back”, meaning a terrible burden or a problem you can’t get rid of. In the late 1800s, this was altered to “monkey on the roof”, or “monkey up the chimney” in reference to obtaining a mortgage. It is proposed that £500 would have been close to the standard house price at the time, and so the monetary Monkey was born.
We are back to the soldiers of the British Raj and Indian Banknotes for our second theory, with many stating that the 500 Rupee note of the time featured a monkey, and the returning soldiers brought the phrase home with them. Incidentally, the 500 Rupee note now features not a monkey but Mahatma Gandhi, but thankfully the slang has not been adjusted. Having a Mahatma Gandhi on the favourite doesn’t quite have the same ring to it somehow!
Grand – £1000
The term Grand stems from the Latin word, Grandis, meaning large in size, noble, or of great importance, and first came to prominence in the 15th century – being used to refer to everything from your father’s father (or mother’s mother or father’s mother or mother’s father!) to the Grand Canyon.
It is generally believed that the word’s association with £1,000 emerged in the US in the early 19th century, with the first written use dating to 1915. Many believe the mob, or Italian mafia, first coined the phrase in their never-ending quest to add a layer of subterfuge to their underworld activities. $100 became a C-Note, and $1,000 – which was indeed a grand sum at the time – became a Grand. Soon entering common usage and brought to the UK by US soldiers during WWII, the phrase has stuck, often being abbreviated to “G” or, for fans of cockney rhyming slang, lengthened to “a bag of sand”.
Sticking with the US, anyone with a passing interest in rap music may well be familiar with “Benjamin” to mean a $100 bill. A Benjamin Franklin gets its name from the President whose portrait appears on that high-value note. Around the world the idea of a particular amount of money or specific note taking its name from the picture on it is common, lending further credence to some of the theories above.