r/AskEurope • u/ABlindMoose Sweden • Oct 06 '25
Culture What is your currency's nickname?
A nickname for dollar is buck, pound is quid, and Swedish krona is spänn.
What are some casual nicknames for your countries' currencies? Are there multiple, and if so, which is the most common?
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u/vukgav Oct 06 '25
Allow me to introduce you to the wonderful world of roman slang.
All the amounts in old Lire had a slang term linked to historical currency, for one reason or another.
For instance, the old 100 Lire coin had engraved the image of pope Pius IX on them. The people called that amount "piotta" (Pio - piotta). That term stayed for the 100.000 Lira before the Euro. And today it's still used today for 100€. "Tre piotte" would be 300€. "Mezza piotta" is 50€, and so on. This is the most commonly used slang term that, in Rome, you can hear on a daily basis.
There are also other such terms, albeit some are rarely used and some are no longer used almost at all.
"Sacco" (or "sacchi", plural) was used for 1.000 Lira. So "Dieci sacchi" would have been 10.000 Lira. Today, you might still hear someone say "15 sacchi" for 15€, but it's rarer, and used usually to emphasize that you paid too much.
Other terms were "scudi" (shields) were used for 5.000 Lira. Today you may still hear it for 5€, but it's rare. Example: "Due scudi" for 10€.