Before we begin, here’s a little quiz to get you thinking…

* Think of 3 verbs: things you can do with money.

* Do you think money is important? Why?

* Think of all the adjectives you can associate with money/people.

* What books and songs do you know whose common theme is money? 

Money. It powers our daily lives, it’s woven into the fabric of our society. For many people, it is why they get up in the morning - to go and earn their daily bread. Why? Because sadly, as the saying goes, money doesn’t grow on trees.  Most of us work to live, Because without money, we can’t live, or at least not very well.  As The Verve sang in their very famous hit Bittersweet symphony: “You’re a slave to the money then you die”. Not the most optimistic of lyrics perhaps.

The theme of money is reflected in our language, literature and music. We see the topic in books like The Great Gatsby and Oliver Twist, in Songs by ABBA, Dire Straits and The Beatles, just to name a few. 

Many of us dream of a lottery jackpot. The grass is always greener, isn’t it? ABBA said that “Money, money, money must be funny in a rich man’s world”, but is it? I mean, money can buy you all the material things you can dream of, it can buy you experiences but is there such a thing as too much money? The vast majority of people would give up work and be able to please themselves all day long. But, I have to ask…wouldn’t the monotony get to you in the end? Once you’ve got the big house, and the fancy car and have been on a few luxurious holidays…what’s next? There’s a Spanish saying that, when directly translated into English says, that; the richest is not he who has the most but he who needs the least. Leo Rosten wryly observed that “Money can’t buy you happiness but neither can poverty.” However, a lot of us think that money can’t buy you happiness but it certainly helps. I think there’s a happy medium- neither too rich nor too poor.  Where do you stand? 

The Beatles said the best things in life are free and they weren’t wrong. Although, love, friends, health and laughter sadly they don’t foot the bills. 

These days, we carry less money on us than we used to some years ago and of late, we keep hearing all about a cashless society. That doesn’t mean that we will no longer use money, but we will no longer use physical cash. It will all go electronic. Are you in favour of that? How do you feel about it? But, all of this hearing cashless society, perhaps, you know, we could think about a society that doesn't have money at all.

What would a world without money be like? Do you think it would be a better place? Do you think it would be a better place? Would it be better or worse to not use money?We'd probably have to go back to the days of bartering (which is still used in many countries throughout the world) if you are not sure what bartering is, it is when goods and services are exchanged for other goods and services negotiate the price with the shop assistant or shop owner. Is there such a thing as having too much money? And would a society with no money be the answer? Would bartering be better or worse than using money? There’s food for thought there. 

Authentic English

There are many slang words for money in the UK such as: 

Moolah 

Dough 

Dosh

Don’t Google it! Work it out!

Very often we can understand what things mean through context. We don’t actually need to look everything up on Google or in a dictionary. Imagine you are in the UK and you hear a conversation like this (very common, by the way) 

- How much is that? 

- It’s 10 quid.

What do you think “quid” means? 

Don’t be surprised if you hear the word “quid”  instead of “pounds”. 

- Oh that’s a pity, I’ve only got a fiver. 

Fiver? = A five-pound note, 

A tenner is a ten-pound note. 

Although funnily enough, we don’t say a “twentier” for a twenty-pound note and there isn’t a short form either for fifty-pound note. 

Take note that there is no ‘s’ on pound when we say a five-pound note because it is  an adjective, not a noun but we would say “That doll is five pounds.“

Take note that pence is often shortened to ‘p’. 

That ice cream is on offer, it’s 99p. 

Where do you keep your money?

Most people keep it in a wallet or a purse. 

Kids tend to save their pocket money and put it in a money box. 

If you are very rich, I guess you put your cash in a safe. 

And finally some idioms…

To splash out on - to spend a lot of money on 

She splashed out on a new pair of boots for the winter

To fork out - to have to spend money on something - it’s something we don’t normally want to spend money on. 

I bumped my car the other week and I had to fork out for the repairs. The insurance didn’t cover it.  

To run up debts - to owe money - to accumulate debts 

She had about 5  different credit cards and ran up debts on them all. In the end, she ended up owing a  lot of money. 

To save up for a rainy day -  to save money for the  future (for  unexpected things/occurrences) 

My granny is saving money for a rainy day. 

To put money aside - to save  money for something 

Every month, Jason puts money aside to pay his taxes. 

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