Bit (money)

This article is about the slang term for certain coins. For the digital currency, seeBitcoin.For other uses of the term "Two bits", seeTwo bits.

The wordbitis a colloquial expression referring to specificcoinsin variouscoinagesthroughout the world.

United States

Banknote for "Twelve and a Half Cents" = $1⁄8,Alabama, 1838

In the US, the bit is equal to12+1⁄2¢, a designation which dates from the colonial period, when the most common unit of currency used was theSpanish dollar,also known as "piece of eight", which was worth 8 Spanish silverreales.$1⁄8or 1 silver real was 1 "bit".

With the adoption of the decimal U.S. currency in 1794, there was no longer a U.S. coin worth $1⁄8,but "two bits" remained in the language with the meaning of $1⁄4.Because there was no 1-bit coin, adime(10¢) was sometimes called ashort bitand 15¢ along bit.(Thepicayune,which was originally1⁄2realor1⁄2bit (6+1⁄4¢), was similarly transferred to the US nickel.)

In addition, Spanish coinage, like other foreign coins, continued to be widely usedand allowed as legal tender by Chapter XXII of the Act of April 10, 1806until theCoinage Act of 1857discontinued the practice.

Robert Louis Stevensondescribes his experience with bits inAcross the Plains,(1892) p.144:

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 acolloquial expression,for 25¢, or aquarter dollaras in song andcatchphrase"Shave and a Haircut,two bits. "As an adjective,"two-bit"describes something cheap or unworthy.

Roger Miller's song "King of the Road"features the lines:Ah, but two hours of pushin' broom buys an / Eight by twelve four-bit roomreferring to signs stating "Rooms to let, 50¢."

In the early 1930s,Crown Recordswas a US record label which sold records for only 25¢. The company advertised on their sleeves, "2 Hits for 2 Bits."

Another example of this use of "bit" can be found in the poem "Six-Bits Blues" byLangston Hughes,which includes the followingcouplet:Gimme six bits' worth o'ticket / On a train that runs somewhere.…

The expression also survives in the sportscheer"Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar… all for(player's name),stand up and holler! "

TheNew York Stock Exchangecontinued to list stock prices in $1⁄8until June 24, 1997, at which time it started listing in $1⁄16.It did not fully implement decimal listing until January 29, 2001.

A 20-bit postage stamp of the Danish West Indies, 1905

Danish West Indies

From 1905 to 1917, theDanish West Indiesused thebitas part of its currency system. In 1904, two new currency denominations were introduced: thebitandfrancswhich were overlaid on the oldcentanddalerdenominations. The four units were related as 5 bits = 1 cent, 100 bits = 20 cents = 1 franc, 100 cents = 5 francs = 1 daler.Coins were issued each denominated in two units, bits and cents, francs and cents, or francs and daler. Postage stamps were denominated in bits and francs; the lowest value was five bits.

United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries and Ireland

In Britain, Ireland and parts of the formerBritish Empire,where beforedecimalisationa British-style currency of "pounds, shillings and pence"was in use, the word" bit "was applied colloquially to any of a range of low-denomination coins.Thus athreepence coinor "threepenny piece" was referred to as a "threepenny bit", usually pronounced "thrupny bit".

The term was used only for coins with a value of several named units (e.g., three pence), and never applied to apenny,shilling,orhalf crowncoin.

A 1946 "sixpenny bit" ofGeorge VI

Although earlier there had been other values in circulation such as the "fourpenny bit" or "groat",the" bit "coins still in use in the United Kingdom up to decimalisation in 1971 were thetwo-shilling bit(or "florin" ) (often "two-bob bit" ), thesixpenny bit(or "tanner" ), and thethreepenny bit.

In the UK, use of the term "bit" had already disappeared with the exception of the 'thruppeny bit', by the time British currency moved to decimal coinage and the consequential loss of the coin denominations to which it had applied. Thus aten pencepiece is referred to merely as "ten pence", or even "ten pee", not as a "tenpenny bit". The term 'pee' refers to the change in abbreviation of the British penny from 'd' to 'p' which denoted the 'New Penny'.

The historic American adjective "two-bit" (to describe something worthless or insignificant) has a British equivalent in "tuppenny-ha'penny"– literally, worth two and a half (old) pence.

See also

• Picayune
• Spanish real
• Spanish dollar(also known as "piece of eight" )
• Danish West Indian daler
• List of alternative names for currency