belated culture shock.

Well. In England there are coins that resemble quarters and they're called 50p. Fifty Pence. In the States, there's a coin called the quarter, meaning .25, meaning Twenty-five Cents. Well, having a coin that's worth 50% rather than 25% always makes more sense to me, but that's rather besides the point.

Today, I was in Boston. I went to pay for a sandwich. It was $7.48 [don't get me started on the price]. I handed the nice lady a five dollar bill, two one dollar bills, and a quarter. Well. To make things worse, I asked her to keep the change. She had to point out to me that it was $7.48 and I'd given her $7.25.

Summation: It would not have been nearly as embarrassing had I been trying to look cool [I've Been in the UK Recently And Know About Their Currency! Bully For Me!]. The reason it was so embarrassing was that I was completely serious about the fact that I've been back from England since August and I was still able to think a quarter is fifty cents.

Bully, bully, I say.