🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <8vpu31$51r@web.nmti.com>, peter@abbnm.com (Peter da Silva) wrote:

>In article <3A206413.D5FB50B@card.kyiv.net>, Alt  <alt@card.kyiv.net> wrote:
>> All I know that
>> "Dollar" starts from Nederland's (Dutch) "Daller".
>
>AKA "Thaler".
>
>> But it does not explain why Dollar is "S".
>
>In Australia in the '60s and '70s we were taught that "U S -> (us $ symbol
>with 2 bars)" and "A S -> (australian $ symbol with one bar)".

Much as I dislike this silly discussion taking place on c.l.m, I feel
morally obliged to try to insert some factual information to counter all
the disinformation taking place:

The dollar sign is a stylized rendering of two columns with a ribbon slung
around them. I vaguely recall reading an explanation saying that they are
the columns of Hercules, separating the Mediterranean Sea from the
Atlantic, near the Gibraltrar Street. This symbol was originally used on
Spanish money, and the ribbon had a motto writen on it. Originally it was
"Non Plus Ultra" (nothing more beyond = a warning that going beyond here
would lead to falling off the edge, I guess), but this was naturally
changed to "Plus Ultra", given the rediscovery of America.

So it is a quite old symbol, it's not originally American (very few things are),
and it is not a superposition of U and S as you seem to imply.

See also <http://www.collectsource.com/americas.htm> which I was able to
find within about 5 seconds in the middle of writing this.

-Lasse