Big and small currency units

As we have seen earlier in https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/the-ding-and-the-dong/   ,the Vietnamese dong was the world’s least valuable currency but it was recently “superseded” by the Iranian rial.

There are numerous articles on the net about the most valuable and least valuable currencies. These are typical:

http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/the-10-most-expensive-currency-in-the-world-337022/

http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/the-14-least-valuable-currencies-in-the-world-346598/

As we see, the Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD) is undoubtedly the most valuable currency unit, while the Vietnamese Dong (VND) and Iranian Rial (IRR) bring up the rear.

Let us see what one KWD can get you (based on Yahoo Finance quotes on 19th Jan)

https://in.finance.yahoo.com/

2.31 British Pounds

3.00 Euros

3.28 US Dollars

3.28 Swiss Francs

4.71 Singapore Dollars

222 Indian Rupees

385 Japanese Yen

3,957 South Korean Won

(now into the stratosphere…..)

45,360 Indonesian Rupiah

73,508 Vietnamese Dong

98,954 Iranian Rial

(Full records are not available so it is difficult to say if a KWD has ever been above 100,000 IRR, but in the last few days it has traded above 99,500)

Anyway, if you want to feel like a millionaire or billionaire, you now know where to go. Mourn the passing of the Italian Lira which was had the lowest value among the major European currencies

 

 

 

The ding and the dong

You would probably not think much of dings and dongs except in the context of bells (and American slang). However, the disambiguation feature of Wikipedia tells us about several other dings and dongs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding

There are a couple of examples from India which Wikipedia did not catch-such as the small railway station of Ding in Haryana:

https://www.google.co.in/maps/@29.4609337,75.2582959,15z

It is served by a number of trains (mainly slow passenger trains) between Hisar and Bathinda.

You may also have heard of Ding as a derogatory term for Anglo-Indians. The internet has an explanation for this, apparently from a blogger from Tamil Nadu:

http://www.samosapedia.com/e/dingo

Not sure if that was to be taken seriously. However there is a traditional Anglo-Indian dish called ding ding, which is called jerky in other countries:

http://bridgetwhite-angloindianrecipes.blogspot.in/2014/08/ding-ding-savoury-sundried-meat-crispies.html

The dong has many more meanings including names and places, and even a large company based in Scandinavia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dong

Dong is a common name in China and Vietnam, where Pham van Dong was one of the architects of their victory over the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ph%E1%BA%A1m_V%C4%83n_%C4%90%E1%BB%93ng

Then there is the Vietnamese dong, which until recently was the least valuable world currency unit. More recently the thinly traded Iranian rial has taken this position.

At the moment the US dollar will get you over 22,400 VND (Vietnamese dong). while the Indian rupee will get you over 330. Even the Indonesian rupiah will get you 1.6 VND. The most valuable currency unit is the Kuwaiti dinar, which will get you 3.29 US dollars, 221 Indian rupees or…73,800 Vietnamese dong.

And Dong is the easternmost village in India. Its population fits into three huts. You still have to travel about 20 km further east to reach the tri-junction of India, China and Myanmar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dong,_Arunachal_Pradesh

This map shows its location more clearly:

https://www.google.co.in/maps/@28.0680455,96.7613483,10z

There is no railway line anywhere in that area, though there are stations such as Dongargaon and Dongargarh:

 

 

The latter station used to have a large steam shed earlier. It lies in Chhattisgarh on the main line from Mumbai to Kolkata.

Then there is the more common American usage for the dong, which needs no explanation.

The dong had its place in Bollywood. In the early 90s the film “Tahalka” featured Amrish Puri as Dong, dictator of Dongrila. One catchphrase of his has persisted down the years: