Can Any Americans Help Me

[kay]

For years I have heard and seen the phrase 'a bit' 'two bits' and 'four bits' in respect of currency. Try as I might I have been unable to get a definition of what this is: Is it a slang for a coin (nickel, dime, quarter,) or? Anyone know?

[Yorkie]

Per wiki:

United States

In the U.S., the "bit" as a designation for money dates from the colonial period, when the most common unit of currency used was the Spanish dollar, also known as "piece of eight", which was worth 8 Spanish silver reales. One eighth of a dollar or one silver real was one "bit".

With the adoption of the decimal U.S. currency in 1794, there was no longer a coin worth 1/8 of a dollar but "two bits" remained in the language with the meaning of one quarter dollar, "four bits" half dollar, etc. Because there was no one-bit coin, a dime (10 ¢) was sometimes called a short bit and 15¢ a long bit.

Robert Louis Stevenson describes his experience with bits in Across the Plains, p. 144 [1]:

In the Pacific States they have made a bolder push for complexity, and settle their affairs by a coin that no longer exists – the BIT, or old Mexican real. The supposed value of the bit is twelve and a half cents, eight to the dollar. 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. But if you have not, and lay down a quarter, the bar-keeper or shopman calmly tenders you a dime by way of change; and thus you have paid what is called a LONG BIT, and lost two and a half cents, or even, by comparison with a short bit, five cents.

"Two bits" or "two bit" continues in general use as a colloquial expression, primarily because of the song catchphrase "Shave and a Haircut, two bits." As an adjective, "two-bit" can be used to describe something cheap or unworthy.

Roger Miller's song "King of the Road" features these lines: Ah, but two hours of pushin' broom buys an / Eight by twelve four-bit room.

The U.S. budget record label Crown (1930-1933) advertised on their sleeve, "2 Hits for 2 Bits" (25 cents).

Another example of the use of "bit" can be found in the poem "Six-Bits Blues" by Langston Hughes, which includes the following couplet: Gimme six bits' worth o'ticket / On a train that runs somewhere.... The expression also survives in the sports cheer "Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar ... all for (player's name), stand up and holler!"

The New York Stock Exchange continued to list stock prices in eighths of a dollar until June 24, 1997, at which time it started listing in sixteenths. It did not fully implement decimal listing until January 29, 2001.

[kay]

hi yorkie yep I am aware of Roger Miller but you would not believe that many Americans I spoke to or 'talked' to via the internet did not know all this. I had this feeling that 2 bits equaled a quarter yet could find nothing on the net to substantiate my belief.
Still Kay, himself, is lucky to have a couple of cents (pennies even in the US) to spend a whole quarter would have been heaven

[TullyBascombe]

Then there's the classic high school cheer:
"Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar,
All for ( name of school ) stand up and hollar"

[kay]

Tully
strange how counting chants and rhymes are universal no matter what part fo the world. Thanks that I try top learn from everything I see and hear.

[Yorkie]

Then there's the classic high school cheer:
"Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar,
All for ( name of school ) stand up and hollar"

Indeed, it was mentioned in my post......

[kay]

indeed you did Yorkie, but I'll admit to being so facinated about the short and long bits I missed the significance of that, sorry.