MEANING of MANKY
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‘Manky’ has a whole range of meanings and the term has common usage in various parts of the north of England and Scotland too. When you hear (not likely) a detectorist say, “my machine is Manky,” it could mean that it’s not working properly or it’s very grimy and dirty. Another usage of the term could be, ‘that dustbin is manky’ – it means it’s rotten, it’s disgusting, it’s got a smell of some kind. Indeed, it’s sometimes used as a term of abuse – especially in Scotland.
So, why would anyone give the name to a chocolate bar. As a ‘rude’ wrapper, of course available to buy on the Bay and not in the shops.
Way back, from about 1200 AD to the end of the 18th century, British pennies were made from silver. To this day, all coins in the Maundy sets are still made from silver, including the Maundy pennies.
The making of low value coins silver became far too expensive so from 1797 they were made from copper. It was during Queen Victoria’s reign that copper changed to bronze. Although bronze is mostly copper it was deemed that the alloy of 95.5% copper, 3% tin and 1.5% zinc made coins a lot more durable and subsequently a little cheaper to produce.
DECIMALISATION
Then came decimalisation in 1971. What a momentous day! Gone was our beloved pound shilling and pence system – in which there were 20 shillings in each pound and 12 pence in each shilling. The existence of 240 pence in each pound was a legacy from Anglo-Saxon times when a Roman pound in weight of silver was divided into 240 silver pennies. Why did we have to change!
Pennies were still made from bronze, but even that became too expensive to produce. From 1992 they have been made from copper plated steel, which makes them very cheap and very durable. Supposedly!
Just look at the penny *I discovered the other day. Hardly ten years old and totally knackered … sorry, I mean exhausted. If this is how modern coins are faring, I reckon they will be far from being a favourable detectorist find in the future.
I used to save my equally distressed old one-pound coins and liberate them in the nearest car parking meter when I went into town. The guy in the corner shop wouldn’t take them and I didn’t have the time to answer the bank teller’s inevitable questions. Too much hassle. Now, of course, the teller has been replaced by a bank of thingy’s resembling arcade machines. That’s progress!
* A version of this article was published in 2013
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I had a look to see how much a Manky chocolate bar would cost us here in Oz.
No product listed now.
I am glad we don’t have any steel cored money. The big bronze old English coins last well in our dry climate.
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The last time I heard the term Manky, was in relation to a Cat, John..I wonder how the term first came into usage..
And if you think your coins deteriorate, try our Canuck coins.. Made of pure crapanium and rot/rust almost instantly in the ground, or ocean.
I have a few coins that are so bad, you would think that they were hit with a shotgun blast.. Holes all through them
Best to you and Mrs. John
Micheal
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