Penny Napoleonic Wars prompted the use of base metals in 1797. Despite the decimalization of currencies in the United States and, later, throughout the British Commonwealth, the name remains in informal use. No penny is currently formally subdivided, although farthings (¼ d.), halfpennies, and half cents have previously been minted and the mill (1/10¢) remains in use as a unit of account in some contexts. "Penny" is first attested in a 1394 Scots text, a variant of Old English ', a development of numerous variations including ', ', and '. The etymology of the term "penny" is uncertain, although cognates are
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (also known as "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" and "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly") is a children's rhyme and nonsense song of a kind known as cumulative. The song tells the nonsensical story of an old woman who swallowed increasingly large animals, each to catch the previously swallowed animal, but died after swallowing a horse. The humour of the song stems from the absurdity that the woman is able to inexplicably and impossibly swallow