A month ago the Canadian government abolished the penny! That's right . No more pennies for Canada.
The penny cost 1.6 cents to produce so to cut out the penny would save the government money. Now what could I buy for a penny? I couldn't come up with an answer. In fact, what could I buy for 2,3,or 4 cents. I don't think we've been able to buy anything for a penny for a long time. The penny now has been used to set a neat sounding price like $4.99. So you come home every day and empty your pockets and the penny jar gets fuller each week. So I don't think the penny will be missed for monetary purposes.
The government stopped making pennies on the day of the announcement. Pennies will be accepted in business for some limited time. Fund raisers have been quick to latch onto a good idea. Many penny jars have been set up for various charities to raise money. I noticed that the jars all had tons of pennies.
Now one of the things not considered in doing away with the penny is the place it has in our language. Many sayings have been generated around the penny. The word penny is of British origin. Americans have chosen to use the term cent. Sayings that may die are: Penny or your thoughts; Shiny as a new penny; Cost a pretty penny; A penny saved is a penny earned; In for a penny; A bad penny always turns up; Penny ante; See a penny, pick it up, all day long you will have good luck. I would think these sayings would disappear over time. When the penny has been gone for several generations the use of these terms in our language will probably disappear.
So a sad good bye to the penny which was sort of the work horse in our money system. How soon will it be before we discard the nickel?
