Why do Americans put the dollar symbol first?

$100

My brain: Dollar hundred

In much of Europe, we just shorten the currency to two letters, like kr for krone/krona and write it like:

100 kr

Why is it $100 and not 100 dl or 100 $?

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@thor

In the UK we put the £ symbol first too, e.g £00, but I think in Europe they would write 100 euro (with the euro symbol, which I don't have on my keyboard.

@zleap

This is true. We write 100€, but putting the £ (or $) makes actually a lot of sense, if you want to add a multiplier to the number.

E.g.

She made £150K last year.

Our company will spend $40M on Microsoft licensing fees this year.

@thor

@mina @zleap

"Our company will spend dollars 40 million..."

Nah, it's a little weird. Typical of Anglophones (UK/US).

@thor

I mean, every country tries to be special.

Look at the Brits: Even driving on the wrong side

The US-Americans: Using °F and the MM/DD/YYYY date format

The Swiss: Direct democracy (no one else trusts the people to decide about their own taxes and stuff)

The French: Trying to convince people, their language has any relevance and should be understood abroad.

@zleap

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