A way back when (in the 1950s) I worked after school at service station (filing station). It was my job to close the station before I went home. On ocassion, we'd collect a slug in the vending machine. These slugs would pass as nickels in some machines. Our machine had a magnet inside to detect ferous material, and it hung onto these slugs. The downside, it also jammed the coin slot, and I'd have to find the hidden key and un-jam the coin slot. The trouble was, the boss, on ocassion, moved the key, and then the jam would have to stay until he came in. It got to be a cloak-and-dagger game to try to find who was passing these slugs. The source of these slugs were knockouts from electrical wiring boxes. Those slugs were almost identical in size to a nickel.

No one will come after you, I am sure. If you did it in a large scale, maybe you'd have a talk with the Treasury agents, but not for a small project. If it makes you feel better, this is from a google search "A U.S. bill must have at least 1 and one half of the 2 serial numbers to still be considered legal tender. So, more than 1/4 of the bill missing (on one side) will make it no longer viable." So if you're nervous, just use part of a bill.

One of my friends owns an apple orchard, and due to the reduction in the bee population in recent years, has to rent bees every spring. The beekeeper can pretty safely market the honey that is produced as "apple blossom honey." However, at the slightest hint that all is not well with the bees, the beekeeper packs up his hives and hightails it out of there, leaving my friend's orchard virtually bee-less. I used to buy honey at a farmers market in southern California. The honey was all different colors and had very different tastes. I asked about it, and the "honey lady" said that indeed the hives were simply placed in fields of whatever crop was named on the label. Not 100%, but close enough. I told her that gave me an image of a rural paradise teeming with flowers and bees, and she said I wasn't too far off in her case, but that is not always true. She said that quite good honey is produced in suburban areas, but you can't be sure of where or what the bees feed on. I surely miss that honey, I've never found as good here in Massachusetts.

Vee, I didn't grow up with English boys but I really didn't notice the Englishmen I knew as co-workers, friends, and male relatives of friends as being as allergic to female company as you describe. Maybe the ones I knew had outgrown it. :-) I did notice the shyness of both males and females, though. As for American guys having 'trophy' girlfriends and wives: sure, there are those but I think gals were/are just as likely to collect 'trophy' boyfriends and husbands. The quarterback of the football team was always more popular than a defensive lineman (a necessary but less glamorous position); the guy with a 'hot' car impressed the girls while the poor fellow who had to drive his parents' car on dates was a 'drip'. I was probably a typical snotty female in some respects: I was mortified when I was a senior (12th grader) in high school and a sophomore (10th grader) boy asked me to an important dance. He was too young for me. I think it's funny now that I have a husband six years younger than me. Annpan, it's true that Americans are obsessed with the appearance of teeth. Martin Amis (Kingsley's son) said that before he dared go to the US he had to get himself 'an American smile'. Looking at YouTube video clips of singers such as Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) and David Bowie before they had their teeth fixed always draws comments from younger Americans nowadays. How could these guys dare sing with such teeth? As if shiny, white plastic chompers are a prerequisite to singing talent...apparently so in their opinion. Americans are just about as obsessed with body hair as with teeth. It wasn't always so, but it is now. Females should have hair in three places only: the head, the eyebrows and the eyelashes. Males are allowed facial hair in addition. If you're wondering about the other region where hair usually grows...that's just ick, ick, ick! Hair removal is big business in the US. Mudlady, I've run across that parental attitude you describe that sons are always more important than daughters. I think it must be a holdover or throwback in American culture and not the norm as it is in certain other cultures. I never felt that I was less important than my brothers, but I was the only girl and youngest child and that probably made a lot of difference. Ah yes, cars had character back then! I can barely tell one make & model from the next nowadays. My first car is only a fond memory but I still have my second car, a metallic-blue 1966 Plymouth Satellite with a 383 engine, 5-speed manual on the floor. Lots of girls never learned to drive a standard transmission, but they missed out on loads of fun! I'm glad I grew up in the heyday of American car culture. As frivolous as it might seem, it signified freedom to me more than anything else could at the time. I didn't think anything of jumping into my car and driving alone from Iowa to Texas. I drove from Paris to Istanbul one time, too. It was marvelous.