Sir, - I am afraid that your correspondent Seamus Lantry ("punt or pound?" - December 2nd) has got the wrong end of the stick. He disdains use of the term "sterling" to mean the British pound on the grounds that this is just a propaganda term meaning "the real thing". On the contrary, English silver penny coins were called "sterlings" as much as 900 years ago. Thus the pound sterling was, originally, a pound weight of sterlings.
It was because of the high quality of these sterlings that - from the late 17th century on - the term came to mean something like "the real thing". Soon thereafter the gold guinea, and then the sovereign, wholly replaced silver coins in England, but the term "sterling" survived. The connotation of excellence has, of course been rather tarnished in more recent times.
What's in a name? Mention of the guinea brings to mind the currency of Guinea, called the Syli, and which had the misfortune to live up to its name, before it was eventually replaced. When it comes to our own currency, I confess to a preference (unless as Gaeilge) for "pound" rather than "punt", if only to avoid the connotation of something small and flat bottomed, prone to sinking if not properly looked after. - Yours, etc.,
Cowper Gardens,
Dublin 6.