Don Cram

C.S. Lewis wrote in his 1922 that he charged 7/6d for three tutorial sessions. He tutored what would be called high school students today and also undergraduates at Oxford, teaching philosophy and classics (Greek and Latin). He considered 7/6d for three sessions a “ridiculous charge.”

There were

21 Shillings in a Guinea
20 Shillings in a Pound

Shillings were abbreviated /, so 7/ means seven shillings, a little more than half a Pound.

2 Shillings in a Florin

12 Pence in a Shilling
(Pence is now and always has been and will be forever, world without end, the plural of penny. The plural is not pennies.)

6 Pence in a Tanner (1/2 Shilling)

So, 7/6d means seven Shillings and a Tanner

4 Pence in a Groat (1/3 Shilling)
3 Pence in a Thruppeny
2 Pence in a Tuppence
1/2 Penny in a “Hay-penny”
1/4 Penny in a Farthing

And, finally, 7/6d in 1922 would be the equivalent of $45.22 today. That’s just over $15 dollars per tutoring session. Sounds awfully low.

The accent is on the third syllable (or, perhaps the second if you speak with a British lilt), but never on the first syllable.

I discovered two new words today. Actually, one new word and the etymology of the other.

gobbet: a textual extract to be translated and commented upon during an examination.

débâcle: comes from the sudden breaking up and flow of ice in a river.