pucette2008

I cannot manage to translate nor even get the meaning of that sentence (Virginia Woolf, The london scene), especially the underlined part.
If anyone native can help, that d b great ^^



(descrition of oxford street)
....
"In Oxford Street there are too many bargains, too many sales, too many goods marked down to one and eleven three that only last week cost two and six."

MikeL

This refers to a discounted price in the old English currency (before the decimal system). "Marked down" = the price is discounted (reduced); "two and six" = "two shillings and sixpence"; there is a problem with "one and eleven three": are you sure that you have copied this correctly?? If you leave out the "three" it makes good sense: "one and eleven" = one shilling and eleven pence". Perhaps instead of "three" it should be "there"??

pucette2008

it is the exact text i have checked...

MikeL

In that case the only suggestion I have is that the "three" refers to a further division of the currency: three farthings. So: one shilling, eleven pence, three farthings. I had thought that the farthing had disappeared by Virginia Woolf's time, but I may be mistaken...