NYT crossword puzzler: G or K?

A thou[sand]? G or K can be terms for a thousand dollars.

I think it is referring to !,000 in money.

@Demosthenes Cokes?

Oh! I think you’re right, both of you. Thank you!

Sometimes I’m way too literal-minded to navigate the twisty turns. I think I’d have got it if it had said M or K.

I’ve always known K to mean 1000 in metrical sense, Kilo, and G meaning $1000 in mobster-speak. But the mobster-speak slang “G” or “Gs” doesn’t show up in the dictionary, but the word “grand” does show up and means $1000.

Well, a little context would have helped, of course, but this was a crossword puzzle. I saw the G and K simply as letters, and when the answer “THOU” emerged from the crossing words, all I saw was the archaic familiar form of address of the second person singular. So I didn’t make the connection.

The “Wordplay” column explains some tricky answers. This one apparently didn’t rate as tricky for the average puzzler, but it stumped me.

@Jeruba Your results are back, you seem to be a little low on gabagool, I’m prescribing you four episodes of The Sopranos, then come back and tell us how you feel, capisci?

Ha, @bob_, nice try, but a couple of years ago I watched the whole Sopranos series on rented DVDs, one episode after another. So I know G doesn’t stand for gabagool. It starts with a C.

@Jeruba You might need to give it another go, because “Gs” was frequently used to refer to thousands :)

I think you misunderstood my comment, @bob_. I was saying that I know what G stands for in a Sopranos context, and it isn’t gabagool, which starts with a C.

And all you guys were right and I was simply too literal-minded to make out this puzzle clue.