British currency in the Middle East pound sterling until 1972, some twelve years after Cyprus gained independence from the United Kingdom. Initially the Cyprus pound was divided into 20 "shillings" ("σελίνι" / "σελίνια", "şilin"), in common with its United Kingdom counterpart. However, unlike the United Kingdom shilling, the Cyprus shilling was divided into 9 "piastres" ("γρόσι" / "γρόσια", "kuruş"), thus establishing a nomenclature link to earlier Ottoman currency. The piastre was itself divided into 40 "para" (like the kuruş). The para denomination did not appear on any coins or banknotes but was used on postage stamps. However, the -piastre coin was equal to 10 para (παράδες)
Coins of the pound sterling usually be said "one-and-six". "Quid" remains as popular slang for one or more pounds to this day in Britain in the form "a quid" and then "two quid", and so on. Similarly, in some parts of the country, "bob" continued to represent one-twentieth of a pound, that is five new pence, and "two bob" is 10p. The introduction of decimal currency caused a new casual usage to emerge, where any value in pence is spoken using the suffix "pee": e.g. "twenty-three pee" or, in the early years, "two-and-a-half pee" rather than the previous "tuppence-ha'penny". Amounts over a pound are normally