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Reader question: What does this headline mean? Closing library penny wise, pound foolish. My comments: The government, in an effort to reduce public spending, decides to close a public library, among other initiatives. Our headline says this is a stupid decision, because the library, relatively speaking, costs little to run. Closing it won’t save much and therefore it won’t be worth the effort. If they really want to reduce spending, they can for instance ask all cadres to take the bus instead of riding a limousine – that will save the government, and the public, a ton of money. To fully understand the headline, though, one needs only take a good grasp of “penny wise, pound foolish”. Penny is the smallest coin in the British currency. It is worth one hundredth of a pound. Penny, hence, represents a small amount of money. Pound, on the other hand, represents a large sum. Penny wise, pound foolish? It literally means sometimes people are clever in trivial money matters but are unwise when it comes to larger sums. They save pennies but spend pounds unwisely. In short, one who’s penny wise and pound foolish is not very smart with their money. Let’s take real examples. Have you ever been accused of being penny wise, pound foolish? If you haven’t, good for you. I believe we all are capable of making foolish mistakes of one sort or another in this regard. | 
