The dollar sign goes in front!

[butters]

A certain user on these forums keeps putting the dollar sign after the value, and it's driving me nuts! I learned in elementary school where to put the dollar sign. It's not hard.

$200 - correct
200$ - incorrect

[Skynet]

I agree with you %100!

[mrandyk]

I used to have that problem, I still do kinda but I always catch myself and fix it. I am also with you %100

[APE]

In Europe they tend to place it at the end.

[Code-Red]

I agree with you %100!

100% asshole.


I agree with you though Butters, you tell those fucking French who's boss. Oh, and the fact they use commas instead of decimals/periods, eg. 100,01$

WTF IS THAT HUH?

[Synlor]

Another area that some people need to practice is the past tense forms of to be. It is not "they was" but rather "they are". The same person keeps repeating that mistake along with a few very similar mistakes. http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz86skm.htm There is a nice little quiz to practice so I don't have to be annoyed anymore.

[butters]

Another area that some people need to practice is the past tense forms of to be. It is not "they was" but rather "they are". The same person keeps repeating that mistake along with a few very similar mistakes. http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz86skm.htm There is a nice little quiz to practice so I don't have to be annoyed anymore.

Actually the person I'm annoyed at right now is not the person that says they was. The person I'm annoyed at is the person that also likes to throw in extra apostrophes.

[Sir Savant]

Another area that some people need to practice is the past tense forms of to be. It is not "they was" but rather "they are". The same person keeps repeating that mistake along with a few very similar mistakes. http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz86skm.htm There is a nice little quiz to practice so I don't have to be annoyed anymore.

Actually the person I'm annoyed at right now is not the person that says they was. The person I'm annoyed at is the person that also likes to throw in extra apostrophes.

Remind me to look up the proper usage of apostrophes...

[Stormwatch]

It annoys me that Brits always refer to bands in plural. For example, "Iron Maiden are a heavy metal band." What the hell? It is one band, one singular entity, so logically Iron Maiden is a friggin' heavy metal band, goddamnit!

[Juan]

It annoys me that Brits always refer to bands in plural. For example, "Iron Maiden are a heavy metal band." What the hell? It is one band, one singular entity, so logically Iron Maiden is a friggin' heavy metal band, goddamnit!

Yeah, those damn brits, who do they think they are to misuse the language?

[|darc|]

It annoys me that Brits always refer to bands in plural. For example, "Iron Maiden are a heavy metal band." What the hell? It is one band, one singular entity, so logically Iron Maiden is a friggin' heavy metal band, goddamnit!

I agree. Learn about your collective nouns, motherfuckers.

Oh, and you know what bothers me? People who can't figure out how to properly use the subjunctive. It's not "If I was rich"! It's "If I were rich"!

[butters]

It annoys me that Brits always refer to bands in plural. For example, "Iron Maiden are a heavy metal band." What the hell? It is one band, one singular entity, so logically Iron Maiden is a friggin' heavy metal band, goddamnit!

I agree. Learn about your collective nouns, motherfuckers.

Oh, and you know what bothers me? People who can't figure out how to properly use the subjunctive. It's not "If I was rich"! It's "If I were rich"!

Which makes little sense, because you say "I was rich" rather than "I were rich."

[mankrip]

What's the problem whit you? Misspelling is cool!

[Specially Cork]

It annoys me that Brits always refer to bands in plural. For example, "Iron Maiden are a heavy metal band." What the hell? It is one band, one singular entity, so logically Iron Maiden is a friggin' heavy metal band, goddamnit!

It annoys me that a Brazillian kiddy Sonic porn artist thinks he has the right to tell English people how to speak English. Not our fault that you learnt American.

Yeah, that's right, learnt with a fucking T. Spelt perfectly correct.

[adnans]

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Dollar sign
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The dollar sign or peso sign ($) is a symbol primarily used to indicate a unit of currency.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 History
o 1.1 From the Spanish Coat of Arms engraved on the Spanish 'Real'
* 2 Alternative origin hypothesis
o 2.1 From 'US'
o 2.2 From a symbol used on the Roman sestertius
o 2.3 The two pillars in the temple of Solomon
o 2.4 From a sign used on the German Thaler
o 2.5 Unit of Silver
o 2.6 Other theories
o 2.7 First cast dollar symbol
* 3 Use on computers
* 4 Currencies that use the dollar or peso sign
* 5 See also
* 6 References

[edit] History

The sign is attested in business correspondence between British North America and Mexico in the 1770s, as referring to the Spanish-Mexican peso.[citation needed] The piastre was known as "Spanish dollar" in British North America, and in 1785, it was adopted as U.S. currency, together with both the term "dollar" and the $ sign.

The sign's ultimate origins are not certain, though it is widely accepted that it comes from the Spanish coat of arms, which carries the two Pillars of Hercules and the motto Non Plus Ultra in the shape of an "S".

[edit] From the Spanish Coat of Arms engraved on the Spanish 'Real'
The Pillars of Hercules with "S"-shapped ribbon in the Town Hall of Seville, (Spain) (16th century)
The Pillars of Hercules with "S"-shapped ribbon in the Town Hall of Seville, (Spain) (16th century)

The most widely accepted explanation is that the dollar sign derives from the Spanish coat of arms engraved on the Spanish colonial silver coins "Real de a Ocho" ("piece of eight") or Spanish dollar under circulation in the Spanish colonies of America and Asia, as well as in the English Thirteen Colonies and later the U.S. and Canada.

The Spanish coat of arms has two columns (||), which represent the Pillars of Hercules and an "S"-shapped ribbon around each, with the motto "Non Plus Ultra" originally, and later "Plus Ultra". (This theory is in most Spanish and Latin American history books. It is also in a Danish book about the $ sign[citation needed].)

In 1492, King Ferdinand II of Aragon put Gibraltar under the new joined rule of the Spanish throne. He adopted the symbol of the Pillars of Hercules and added the Latin phrase Non plus ultra – meaning "and nothing further", indicating "[this is] the end of the (known) world". But as Christopher Columbus in 1492 travelled to the Americas, the saying was changed to Plus Ultra – as there was more out there.[citation needed] This symbol was especially adopted by Charles V and was a part of his coat of arms as a symbol of his American possessions and riches. When the Spanish conquistadores found gold and silver in the New World, Charles V's symbol was stamped on the coins made from these metals. These coins with the Pillars of Hercules over two hemispheres (columnarios) were spread around America and Europe, and the symbol was ultimately adopted by the country that became the United States and by many of the continent's other independent nations. Later on, salesmen wrote signs that, instead of saying dollar, had this handwritten symbol, and in turn this developed to the simple S with two vertical bars.
The Pillars of Hercules around the modern coat of arms of Spain.
The Pillars of Hercules around the modern coat of arms of Spain.

There is also another explanation in the United States, according to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing here, where "$" is a corruption of the letters "PS" or "PS" (for 'peso', as each letter could represent each syllable of "Pe-So") written over each other in Spanish. Eventually, the 'P' was reduced to a vertical line.

The earliest usage had the sign with a single vertical stroke. For some time, the double-stroke symbol \mathrm{S}\!\!\!\Vert was common, but is now again falling out of use.[citation needed]

[edit] Alternative origin hypothesis

There are a number of alternative origin theories, widely regarded as false, sometimes bordering on the occult.

[edit] From 'US'

That $ is a monogram of U and S, which was used as a mark on money bags issued by the United States Mint. The letters U and S superimposed resemble the historical double stroke "$" sign: the bottom of the 'U' disappears into the bottom curve of the 'S', leaving two vertical lines. This double stroke dollar sign has been used to refer to US Currency. Thus, the one stroke design may have been modified to the double stroke design to represent United States currency. This theory was largely popularized by the novel Atlas Shrugged by author Ayn Rand.

[edit] From a symbol used on the Roman sestertius

That the dollar sign harks back to the most important Roman coin, the Sestertius, which had the letters 'HS' as its currency sign. When superimposed, these letters form a dollar sign with two vertical strokes (the horizontal line of the 'H' merging into the 'S'). This theory is widely discarded, in spite of the tendency of neo-classic Roman Republic influences in styles evident in other early US government designs, such as the Capitol and Senate buidings.

[edit] The two pillars in the temple of Solomon

That the two vertical lines represent the two cult pillars Boaz and Jachin in the original Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem. This is based on the theory that Masonic symbols, such as the All Seeing Eye of God, appear on U.S. currency, which they did not in 1785.

[edit] From a sign used on the German Thaler

That it derives from the symbol used on a German Thaler. According to Ovason (2004), on one type of thaler, one side showed the crucified Christ, and the other side showed a serpent hanging from a cross, and near the serpent's head the letters NU, and on the other side of the cross the number 21. This refers to the Bible, Numbers, chapter 21.

[edit] Unit of Silver

The dollar symbol was in use in colonial times before the American Revolution. Prices were often quoted in units of silver, as the Spanish "piece of eight" was in common use for payment of goods and services. When a price was quoted the capital 'S' was used to indicate silver with a capital 'U' written on top to indicate units. Eventually, the capital 'U' was replaced by double vertical hash marks.

[edit] Other theories

Another possibility is that it derives from the British notation 8/ for eight shilling, referring to the Spanish 8 reales coin ("piece of eight"), which later became the USA dollar. Others derive it from the Portuguese Cifrão sign \mathrm{S}\!\!\!\Vert.
Image of 1768 Spanish Colonial Real silver coin, showing PTSI ($) mint mark in lower right quadrant. It also shows the columns around the hemispheres (this time displayed one at the side of the other).
Image of 1768 Spanish Colonial Real silver coin, showing PTSI ($) mint mark in lower right quadrant. It also shows the columns around the hemispheres (this time displayed one at the side of the other).

A common explanation is that the symbol is derived from the numeral eight with a slash through it denoting "pieces of eight." The Oxford English Dictionary prior to 1963 held that this was the most probable explanation, though later editions have placed this theory in doubt.

Still another explanation holds that the dollar sign is derived from (or at least inspired by) the mint mark on Spanish colonial silver coins ("real" or "piece of eight") that were minted in Potosí (in present day Bolivia). The mint mark was composed of the letters "PTSI" superimposed on one another, and bears an undeniable resemblance to the single-stroke dollar sign (see picture). The Potosí mine is generally accepted as having been the largest single silver strike in history. Silver coins minted in Potosí would have been in common use in colonial America, and its mint mark widely recognized.

[edit] First cast dollar symbol
The plaque on the bookshop on the corner of South Street and Church Street in St Andrews.
The plaque on the bookshop on the corner of South Street and Church Street in St Andrews.

According to a plaque in the burgh of St Andrews in Scotland, UK, the first dollar symbol was cast in a type-foundry in Philadelphia in 1797 that belonged to Scottish immigrant John Baine. John Baine had lodged in a house in South Street in St Andrews with Alexander Wilson, the father of Scottish type-founding.
[edit] Use on computers

As the dollar sign is one of the few symbols that is on the one hand almost universally present in computer character sets, but on the other hand rarely needed in its literal meaning within programming languages, the $ character has been used on computers for many purposes not related to money, including:

* $ was used as a string terminator in CP/M and subsequently also in all versions of 86-DOS, PC-DOS, MS-DOS and derivatives (Int 21 with AH=09h)
* $ signifies the end of a line or the file in text editors ed, ex, vi and derivatives, and consequently:
* $ matches the end of a line or string in sed, grep, and POSIX and Perl regular expressions.
* $ was used to define string variables in older versions of the BASIC programming language ("$" was often pronounced "string" instead of "dollar" in this use).
* $ is used to define hexadecimal constants in Pascal-like languages as Delphi.
* $ is used to define variables in the PHP programming language and scalar variables in the Perl programming language (see Sigil (computer programming)).
* In most shell scripting languages, $ is used to interpolate environment variables, special variables, arithmetic computations and special characters, and to perform translation of localised strings.
* In UNIX-like systems the $ is often part of the command prompt, depending on the user's shell and environment settings. For example, the default environment settings for the bash shell specify $ as part of the command prompt.
* $ is used in the TeX typesetting language to delimit mathematical regions.
* $ is used by prompt command in DOS to insert special sequences into the DOS command prompt string.
* Formulas in MS Excel and other spreadsheets use $ to indicate an absolute cell reference.

[edit] Currencies that use the dollar or peso sign

In addition to those countries of the world that use dollars or pesos, a number of other countries use the symbol $ to denote their currencies, including, but not limited to:

* Brazilian real
* Cape Verde escudo
* Nicaraguan córdoba
* Portuguese escudo (defunct)
* Tongan pa'anga

Except the Philippine peso, whose sign is written as .

[edit] See also

* Dollar
* Canadian dollar
* Euro sign
* Pound sign
* Spanish dollar (Pieces of Eight)
* Cifrão
* $ (film)
* Sigil (computer programming)

[edit] References
Look up $ in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

* Cajori, Florian (1993). A History of Mathematical Notations. New York: Dover (reprint). ISBN 0-486-67766-4. - contains section on the history of the dollar sign, with much documentary evidence supporting the "pesos" theory.
* Ovason, David (2004-11-30). The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill. Harper Paperbacks (reprint). ISBN 0-06-053045-6.

[show]
v • d • e
Currencies named dollar or similar
Circulating Australian dollar · Bahamian dollar · Barbadian dollar · Belize dollar · Bermuda dollar · Brunei dollar · Canadian dollar · Cayman Islands dollar · Cook Islands dollar · East Caribbean dollar · Fijian dollar · Guyanese dollar · Hong Kong dollar · Jamaican dollar · Kiribati dollar · Liberian dollar · Namibian dollar · New Zealand dollar · Samoan tala · Singapore dollar (dolar, வெள்ளி) · Solomon Islands dollar · Surinamese dollar · New Taiwan dollar · Trinidad and Tobago dollar · United States dollar · Zimbabwean dollar
Circulating, formerly a.k.a. dollar Malaysian dollar
Obsolete British North Borneo dollar · British West Indies dollar · Ceylonese rixdollar · Confederate States of America dollar · Continental dollar · Danish rigsdaler · Danish West Indian daler (dollar) · Danish West Indian rigsdaler · Dominican dollar · Dutch rijksdaalder · Greenland rigsdaler · Grenadan dollar · Hawaiian dollar (dala) · Kiautschou dollar · Malaya and British Borneo dollar · Malayan dollar · Mauritian dollar · Mongolian dollar · Nevisian dollar · New Brunswick dollar · Newfoundland dollar · Norwegian rigsdaler · Norwegian speciedaler · Nova Scotian dollar · Penang dollar · Puerto Rican dollar · Rhodesian dollar · Saint Kitts dollar · Saint Vincent dollar · Sarawak dollar · Sierra Leonean dollar · Spanish dollar · Straits dollar · Sumatran dollar · Swedish riksdaler · Old Taiwan dollar · Texan dollar · Trinidadian dollar · Tobagan dollar · Tuvaluan dollar
Obsolete, a.k.a. dollar Chinese yuan · Ethiopian birr
Conceptual Eurodollar · International dollar · Petrodollar · Geary-Khamis dollar
Virtual Linden dollar
Fictional Dollarpound
Private Antarctican dollar · Calgary dollar · Disney dollar · Liberty dollar · Toronto dollar · Millennium Dollar
See also Dollar sign · Holey dollar · Thaler · $1
[show]
v • d • e
Currencies named peso or similar
Circulating Argentine peso · Chilean peso · Colombian peso · Cuban convertible peso · Cuban peso · Dominican peso (peso oro) · Macanese pataca (圓) · Mexican peso · Philippine peso (piso) · Uruguayan peso
Obsolete Argentine peso argentino · Argentine peso ley · Argentine peso moneda corriente · Argentine peso moneda nacional · Bolivian peso · Catalan peseta (pesseta) · Costa Rican peso · Ecuadorian peso · Equatorial Guinean peseta · Guatemalan peso · Guinea Bissau peso · Honduran peso · Japanese government-issued Philippine fiat peso · Nicaraguan peso · Paraguayan peso · Peruvian peseta · Portuguese Timorese pataca · Puerto Rican peso · Salvadoran peso · Spanish peso · Spanish peseta (pesseta, pezeta) · Venezuelan peso
See also Peso sign · Maltese pataca (coin)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_sign"

Categories: Articles lacking sources from March 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Currency signs | Articles with unsourced statements since June 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | Dollar | Peso | Numismatics
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[DaMadFiddler]

Related pet peeve:
$100 dollars

It's bloody redundant, and I see it all the time; it's like saying ATM machine, or PIN number. Think about what you're writing!

Also, Boney, that's spelt perfectly correctly. Adjectives only modify nouns and pronouns

[AgentGreen]

NAVIGATE MY ASS

[|darc|]

Related pet peeve:
$100 dollars

It's bloody redundant, and I see it all the time; it's like saying ATM machine, or PIN number. Think about what you're writing!

Also, Boney, that's spelt perfectly correctly. Adjectives only modify nouns and pronouns

I once saw "VIP person"

[AgentGreen]

NAVIGATE MY ASS

[Covar]

NAVIGATE MY ASS...IN MY PANTS!!!!