Roger Ebert answers my question!

I've been somewhat of a fan of Roger Ebert for some time. I certainly do not agree with everything he writes. He says, "The Golden Compass" is a darker, deeper fantasy epic than the "Rings" trilogy, "The Chronicles of Narnia" or the "Potter" films." I don't know what he was on when he wrote that, but in general I find his writing pretty insightful. He has a column that he writes called the Movie Answer Man that I take a look at now and then. The last time I stopped by the site I decided I would submit a question of my own just for the heck of it. The question was genuine and I did look up British Currency online before asking the question but I didn't come across the answer myself. Anyway I submitted the question thinking he probably gets thousands of these emails and that he would never answer mine but I'd give it a shot...

Q. I absolutely loved "Sweeney Todd" and quickly snapped up the soundtrack and listened to it endlessly. I came across something that I didn't catch while watching the film. It takes place in London. Why then do the characters refer to "pennies" when talking about money? The way I understand it, a penny is a single U.S. cent. Is this just a slipup?
Shane Mulholland, Glendale, Calif.

A. Nope. Britain has had the penny coin since 1714. It has been sadly reduced in size since decimalization, but once when it was so robust, it made your pants sag. A kid got one of those, it looked like money. And to quote David Mamet: "Everybody likes money. That's why they call it money."

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