Sir, – When Frank McNally's inebriated fellow passenger (An Irishman's Diary, January 10th) on the Dart on Christmas Eve bet his partner "a thousand fuckin' euros" that the Verve not Oasis sang "The Drugs Don't Work", was he following the 2006 recommendation of the EU Directorate-General for Translation that the regular plurals, euros and cents, be used?
Before 2006, the EU inter-institutional style guide recommended use of euro and cent without the plural “s”.
Ireland remains alone in the English-speaking world in still preferring invariant plurals (without an “s”) when talking money.
Frank McNally was lucky to share a carriage with another language expert. – Yours, etc,
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Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Vienna.