A Guinea It Would Sink Lyrics
A gold coin sinks in water and a paper note floats, but the speaker would still rather have the gold coin than your one pound note.
A Guinea It Would Sink
A guinea it would sink,
And a pound it would float;
Yet I'd rather have a guinea,
Than your one pound note.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-guinea-it-would-sink/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 5 to 10 years
What Does A Guinea It Would Sink Mean?
A guinea was an English gold coin, worth a pound and a shilling. A one pound note was paper money. Throw them in water and the heavy gold sinks while the paper floats, but that does not make the paper worth more. In the past, many people trusted gold coins more than paper notes, and the rhyme is a little joke about that.
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell printed it in The Nursery Rhymes of England. Guineas were first made in 1663 from gold that came from the Guinea coast of West Africa, which is how the coin got its name.
Learning Activities
- Sink or float: drop a coin and a small piece of paper into water and watch what happens.
- Old money: look at pictures of old coins and notes.
- Which is worth more? talk about why heavier does not always mean more valuable.