A delightfully obscure piece of old British slang for a sixpence — the small silver coin worth six old pennies that circulated until decimalisation in 1971.
A delightfully obscure piece of old British slang for a sixpence — the small silver coin worth six old pennies that circulated until decimalisation in 1971. The origin of the phrase is debated, but it fits into a long tradition of British rhyming and whimsical slang for coins. A sow's baby might have been humorous shorthand born from the pig's associations with small, round, pink things — though the exact logic of Victorian and Georgian slang rarely needs to be airtight to stick.
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UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
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The street sweeper tipped his cap and held out his hand, hoping for at least a sow's baby for his trouble.
(UK, obsolete, slang) A sixpence coin.