Timeline for Meaning of "How many Euros can be exchanged for 5 USD?"
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 27, 2023 at 16:28 | comment | added | Lambie | @jsw29 Your first comment under mine above adds little to the discussion. And until my first comment, no one had said anything about it being non standard. It just seems like no one is very familiar with the lingo. | |
| Nov 27, 2023 at 16:08 | comment | added | jsw29 | @Lambie, I think we pretty much all agree that the formulation proposed by the OP is best avoided. My point was, however, that what you proposed as typical would be typical in some contexts, but not in others. Mr. Ashworth and I also disagree on what would be the most natural interpretation of the OP's proposed formulation, if it were to be used (although it shouldn't be used at all). | |
| Nov 27, 2023 at 14:16 | comment | added | Lambie | @jsw29 Who said anything about coins? Never heard: tendering a round amount of Y. In any event, the formulation in the OP's question is not standard...see Edwin Ashworth's comment. | |
| Nov 27, 2023 at 2:29 | comment | added | Peter | There is a third possible (but less likely) meaning: How many Euros can I exchange (into some other currency, probably USD) for a fee of 5 USD? | |
| Nov 27, 2023 at 1:47 | vote | accept | Piezo | ||
| Nov 27, 2023 at 1:28 | answer | added | Tinfoil Hat | timeline score: 0 | |
| Nov 26, 2023 at 22:34 | comment | added | jsw29 | @Lambie, the question you formulated, 'How many X currency can you get for Y currency' is typical (or rather was typical when such cash transactions were common, and bureaux de change were ubiquitous) when one is in the X country: in such a case one would be tendering a round amount of Y currency because nobody in X would want to handle Y coins. However, if one goes to a bank in Y to get cash for one's trip to X, one would have to specify the amount as a round number in X currency, as the bank would not have X coins. | |
| Nov 26, 2023 at 19:32 | comment | added | Lambie | Typically, we say: How many X currency can you get for Y currency. Your question is not in standard form for currency transactions: How many euros can be exchanged for 5 USD? No one says that. We do say: What is the exchange rate for dollars to euros? Or: euros to dollars. What dollar rate did you get for your euros? | |
| Nov 26, 2023 at 18:56 | comment | added | Jack O'Flaherty | "How many Euros can be exchanged for 5 USD?". It doesn't make sense, expressed that way. "I got 5 USD. I'll accept any amount of Euros more than, say ten. No upper limit..." | |
| Nov 26, 2023 at 17:06 | comment | added | PaulTanenbaum | I’m with @EdwinAshworth. One could even say (a bit sloppily) How many Euros is $5.00 US? As Stuart F points out, this doesn’t account for the fee that any transaction would incur, whichever is the currency you are buying and which one you are offering in exchange. That fee changes the actual, exact exchange rate. | |
| Nov 26, 2023 at 17:04 | comment | added | jsw29 | Your reasoning is correct in so far as the more natural reading of the sentence is: how much in euros do I need to give in order to get five dollars? Whether it is the only possible reading of it is debatable. But why would you want to use that sentence to express the idea, when there are better ways of doing so? | |
| Nov 26, 2023 at 16:42 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | It sounds an unusual way to express this. "How many Euros will $5US get you [at the moment]?" is natural. | |
| Nov 26, 2023 at 16:40 | comment | added | Stuart F | People often talk about exchange rates in simplistic ways: in retail transactions ignoring the difference between buying and selling rates, and not taking commission into account when quoting prices, and ignoring the fact that the rates quoted on the financial pages are averages. If you want a buying or a selling rate, you should specify that (and specifying the amount is good). This doesn't really have anything to do with English language though. | |
| Nov 26, 2023 at 16:25 | history | edited | Heartspring | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 190 characters in body; edited tags; edited title
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| Nov 26, 2023 at 14:18 | comment | added | Yosef Baskin | Either interpretation can be understood by the passive can be exchanged, so context right before or afterwards can clarify the 2-way verb. The sentence exemplifies why passive voice can hide meaning - agency - who did the deed? Are we starting with euros or with dollars? Without context, my money's on starting with 5 USD, the only amount specified. | |
| S Nov 26, 2023 at 13:44 | review | First questions | |||
| Nov 26, 2023 at 13:51 | |||||
| S Nov 26, 2023 at 13:44 | history | asked | Piezo | CC BY-SA 4.0 |