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Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!halo
From: halo@cognos.uucp (Hal O'Connell)
Newsgroups: comp.std.internat,sci.lang
Subject: Re: Computers and human languages (was Re: What is a byte)
Message-ID: <1364@sirius.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 31-Aug-87 11:31:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: sirius.1364
Posted: Mon Aug 31 11:31:09 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 1-Sep-87 05:38:02 EDT
References: <218@astra.necisa.oz> <8461@utzoo.UUCP>
Reply-To: halo@cognos.UUCP (Hal O'Connell)
Organization: Cognos Inc., Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 24
Xref: dciem comp.std.internat:182 sci.lang:1151

In article <8461@utzoo.UUCP> henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes:
>> P.S.: About extra letters: is the "$"-sign really the writing in one space
>> of "U" and "S"? So: "U.S. dollar" --> "$ dollar"
>
>Close.  What I have been told is that the dollar sign is a scrunched form
>of PS, with the loop of the P getting lost in the shuffle.  Why PS?  Because
>the US took a long time to get its act together on a national currency, and
>the Mexican peso saw considerable use meanwhile.


My understanding is somewhat different, and takes into account the 
*difference* between the US dollar sign (normally an "S" with two 
vertical lines) and other dollar signs (the "S" with a single vertical
line).

The US dollar sign came from superimposing the S on a U, being an
abbreviation of "US"and erasing the base of the U. Very patriotic.

The other dollar sign comes from the historical common usage
of Spanish pieces of eight in international matters. The 
Superimposition of an 8 on a P was standard notation for this
currency. The erasing of a few lines gives the $ we all know.
I suspect that the symbolism of the peso evolved in the same fashion,
given its hispanic origins.