Bit (money)

The word bit is a colloquial expression referring to specific coins in various coinages throughout the world. In the US, it's 1/8th of a dollar.

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United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries

Most familiarly, the old threepence (3d) coin, which was referred to as the Thrupp'ny bit. The Florin or two shilling coin, was often referred to as the "two bob bit". When the British pound was worth 2 1/2 US Dollars (8 shillings to dollar), a 2 shilling coin was worth 25 US cents.

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.

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.

Danish West Indies

From 1905 to 1917, the Danish West Indies used stamps denominated in bits and francs with 100 bits to the franc; the lowest value was five bits.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Across the Plains & Homeward: With Other Memories and Essays - Robert Stevenson, John Hyde - Google Books