Mower - how much money is that? The history of the appearance and meaning of jargon

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Money, money, money… No matter how they are spoken about, there is no way in our world without banknotes and coins. With their appearance, trade has acquired a completely different meaning. At the same time, various names for money began to appear, including informal ones. Often a well-aimed word said by someone went to the people, and the history of its appearance was lost for centuries. Everyone is familiar with such names as chervonets, five-hatka and mower. How many rubles it is and where such "nicknames" came from, few people know. But not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance.

Meaning of jargon "mower"

The most common slang word "mower" is found in colloquial speech. And it is no coincidence. The fact is that this is how a thousand-ruble bill is designated, and it is one of the most common today. But why "mower"? How much was it at different times, did this slang word always mean exactly a thousand rubles?

Philologists suggest that such a designation first appeared in the 20s of the last century. Then banknotes were issued with a face value of 1 thousand rubles, the inscription on which was made obliquely. Hence the name:"oblique" or "mower". Such bills have long been withdrawn from circulation, and the jargon has taken root and has remained. And this is despite the fact that in Soviet times, money of this denomination practically did not go. Only at the end of the 20th century did the "mower" reappear in the youth lexicon.

True, in the well-known work of the Weiner brothers "The Era of Melody" between Smoked and Zheglov we can observe a very interesting dialogue. In it, the thief invites the investigator to play on the half-way, and he replies: "… to play fifty?". It turns out 100 rubles - this is the oblique. And then the question arises: "If a hundred is oblique, then 1 mower is how much then will it be?" Problem-s. Perhaps such confusion arose due to the denomination that was carried out more than once in Soviet times, that is, the denomination was reduced by 10 times. Unfortunately, it is difficult to answer this question more precisely.

Other names of the thousand-ruble note

Of course, in different parts of the country to identify the same banknotes, their well-aimed words appeared. So, a thousand rubles has many other names: "piece", "ton", "piece" and even just "ruble". The last two originated in the 1990s when the value of money was low. Many received a million salaries, and the prices for bread, milk and other products were with three zeros. “Piece” began to be called a bundle of money, that is, initially this word was used for a separate bundle. It is believed that it appeared in colloquial speech back in that distantthe time when distance was measured by cubits. When abbreviated in documents, a thousand, like a ton, is denoted by the letter "t". Apparently, someone noticed this, the jargon has taken root. So, the answer to the question: "A piece, a ton, a piece or a mower is how much money?" - one: 1 thousand rubles.

Other interesting names of money

Each of the banknotes at different times people gave their "pronunciations". Some are still used today, while others have long become part of history. So, in the second half of the 19th century, a portrait of Catherine II appeared on a hundred-ruble note. The people quickly dubbed the bill "Katka", "Baba Katya" or simply "Baba". It is easy to guess that the name "grandmother" to denote money came from here. On the 500-ruble note, Peter I was depicted, she was called by analogy "petka" or "grandfather". However, more often it was in use "5 katya" or "five-katka", which later turned into a "pyatikhatka", already familiar to modern man. Just as in the case of the word "mower", how many rubles it is now knows not only young people, but also people who are more distant from slang.

And what about abroad?

Just like in our country, their funny names for money appeared abroad, and also, as a rule, among the youth. Although they do not know, mower - how many rubles it is, but the question of the meaning of the words "bucks", "cabbage" and "dead presidents" of the Americans is definitely notwill confuse. Everyone knows that we are talking about dollars. But from the British you can even hear that they are paying with the "cart wheel". So since the 19th century, they have been designating specie in the UK.