herring

[Michael Quinion]

Joel S Berson wrote:

> I am pretty sure I came across a court case from colonial Massachusetts
> where someone was fined for selling a quantity of 100 instead of 120.

This number was once standard for selling items by number, often called a
"long hundred". It was so widely used at one time in England that a
proverb was created to remind people that: "Five score's a hundred of men,
money and pins; six score's a hundred of all other things."

I came across it recently when investigating the word "tolfraedic":

  http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-tol2.htm

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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