87.5k views
2 votes
I've always wondered why we put the dollar sign ($) before a number, when, when we say an amount of money we say the number first then dollars; like $12, but I think it really should be 12$, cause we don't go and say "dollar twelve", we say "twelve dollars". I don't know if this makes sense, but this always confused me; please share your thoughts.

User Rshankar
by
4.5k points

1 Answer

4 votes

Answer: I believe it's just custom. Some nations follow the quantity with a currency symbol, such as the dollar sign.

According to one hypothesis I've heard, the currency symbol was added before the quantity to stop individuals from modifying handwritten amounts, like changing 25.00 into 125.00, for example. It might be accurate, however I believe that the amount is always spelled out in words in the majority of situations when such fraud would be conceivable, such as on checks.

Explanation:

User Caelea
by
5.2k points