WHEN Decimal Day dawned last week, the British kept the pound (or quid) and such variations as the 5-, 10-and 20-pound notes. But in dividing the pound into 100 new pence instead of 240 old pennies, they lost all their old coins. The ha'penny, thrup'ny and sixpenny pieces and the shilling in all its variations are being withdrawn from circulation. They lost something more: many colorful examples of cockney slang, which substitutes rhymed phrases for action words—such as "gawd forbids" for bothersome kids and "trouble and strife" for a nagging wife. No rhymes have yet surfaced for the new currency, hence...
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