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15 sie 2018 · Have you ever wondered why a United States quarter-dollar is called “two-bits”? Or, a half-dollar “four-bits”? Do you know why we call our basic monetary unit “dollar” instead of something...
6 lis 2023 · Lately I‘ve been curious – why do Americans say "two bits" when referring lightheartedly to a quarter dollar? Where did this odd slang come from? In exploring this linguistic curiosity, I discovered the key lies in early Spanish coins that were quite literally cut into "bits".
In the US, a bit is equal to 12 1 ⁄ 2 cents hence a quarter is called two bits. But have you ever wondered how come “bit” became a designation of money? Well, wonder no more because we have the answer. Here’s the story. Back in the early days of the US, there were many coins in use.
When it comes to two bits, the quarter-dollar stands for the required amount. But how about an odd bit? The nearest coin to it is a dime, which is, short by a fifth. That, then, is called a short bit. If you have one, you lay it triumphantly down, and save two and a half cents.
19 lip 2023 · The term “bit” was used by the English to refer to small denomination coinage, thus “two-bits” equaled a quarter dollar, “four-bits,” a half dollar; and so on. This practice also earned the coin the legendary moniker, “piece of eight” long associated with pirate’s plunder.
25 paź 2016 · Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar. Oct 25, 2016 | coins, fun, history, silver. The original bit coin. Let’s not put the cart before the horse. We all have used adages. Some are centuries old when it was really something special when a penny saved was a penny earned.
5 sty 2018 · 2 Bits: a 2 Spanish Reales coin. In the United States, the term bit became synonymous for a 1 Real coin. So engrained was Spanish colonial currency to circulating currency and the monetary system after American Independence, the Spanish coinage continued to be legal tender until 1857.
