McDonalds TV ad

mippy

maxtweenie wrote: »

Prepare to be amazed further, but I had already complained to McDonalds before I started this thread, and got the same bog standard reply from some silly twenty something tart with a degree in Girl Power or some other pointless 21st century made up subject.

Reeeeeeaaaaaaalllllllyyyyyy!

Wow, how presumptious, not to mention sexist. Also: you might want to complain to the ad agency, not McDonald's, who didn't script the ad.

Mike_K_2

pitkin2020 wrote: »

The point is the whole BOB thing is just slang same as squid. Slang can vary from county to county there is a lot of slang in London that people in the midlands would have no concept of what they are talking about and vicer versa.

You say most people you know haven't heard the phrase "bob" used to mean a pound, where as most people I know are aware of the slang word bob, i.e bet that cost a few bob (few pounds), can I borrow a couple of bob (couple of pounds).

I agree with most of what you say, but it's beside the point in this specific case.

A Bob is specifically an old term slang phrase for 5p. Now maybe the term 'a few bob' has evolved to mean 'a small amount of money' in modern slang.

The point is that McDonalds are saying a bob is specifically £1 - this has NEVER ever been the case. This is etymologically wrong and just exacerbates the morononic style of 'Maccy Dee's' adverts to their customer base and their ignorant attempt to appeal to a supposed subclass who couldn't care less and are 'loving it' .

mippy

"The point is that McDonalds are saying a bob is specifically £1 - this has NEVER ever been the case. This is etymologically wrong"

They're not covering etymology here, though - in one of their ads they refer to a squid, and aren't claiming this has always meant £1 rather than a sea creature! Word meanings change over time - nobody describing a homosexual person as 'gay' is claiming that word has always specifically meant men into man love.

I've not heard it myself but from up thread people are referring to £1 as a 'bob'. And I've heard the phrase 'cost a few bob' plenty of times.

Intellectual_Curmudgeon

brettcta wrote: »

snap

was it REEEAAAALLY worth the time & effort posting a thread about it?

Sheep never complain or make the effort to voice an opinion. They just follow the one in front. I wonder if you are a sheep brettcta? :rotfl:

Heimdall_2

mippy wrote: »

I've not heard it myself but from up thread people are referring to £1 as a 'bob'. And I've heard the phrase 'cost a few bob' plenty of times.

So what? The phrase "cost a few bob" doesn't imply what a bob is, just that something cost a few of them. Similarly, the argument about being "aware of the slang word bob, i.e bet that cost a few bob, can I borrow a couple of bob" also doesn't imply that a bob is a pound - that's just an incorrect assumption you and others have made.

It's simple - a bob is a shilling, one twentieth of a pound. McDonald's ad agency just got it wrong, as did the people earlier in the thread who refer to £1 as a bob.

wuckfit

shellsuit wrote: »

Yep, I know that, but I thought from the saying, that there were a ten bob note, which there never has been.

That probably doesn't make sense, but saying that, not much of what I say actually does!

There did used to be a ten shilling (bob) note.

Edit, to say I've just spotted the photographic proof to back me up.

wuckfit

So, just to recap :
farthing = one quarter of an old Penny
ha'penny = two farthings or one half penny
Penny (1d.) (why d? latin - denarius, plural denarii)
thruppenny bit = three pennies (3d)
sixpence = six old pennies (6d)
One Shilling = 12 old pennies or 5 'New' pence Aka a 'bob' (1/-)
Two Shillings = 24 old pennies, 10 'New' pence aka a 'Florin' aka a 'two-bob-bit' (2/-)
Half Crown = 30 old pennies or two shillings and sixpence (2/6)
Crown = 60 old pennies or 5 shillings (5/-)
One pound = 20 shillings or 240 old pennies. or 'quid'
Whilst it didn't exist as a coin immediately pre-decimalisation, a guinea was often used to denote 21 shillings or one pound and one shilling. (21/-)

hoyles10

It seems this has even made it on to Sky News and Yahoo
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100124/tuk-mcdonald-s-pounded-over-bob-menu-adv-45dbed5.html

KeithP

What about spending a penny?

How much does that cost nowadays? A few bob if I recall.

(Nowadays... where did that word come from? )

jackieb

KeithP wrote: »

What about spending a penny?

How much does that cost nowadays? A few bob if I recall.

(Nowadays... where did that word come from? )

I find it quite funny that most Americans don't know what a fortnight is. The clue is in the word - fourteen nights.