11 ms·
Shave and a Haircut
- dustincoates 3y ago> "Two bits" is a term in the United States and Canada for 25 cents I don't know about Canada, but the "is" should be a "was" unless there are contexts I don't know about. It did lead me down a little deeper the Wikipedia rabbit hole, and apparently: > The New York Stock Exchange continued to list stock prices in $1⁄8 until June 24, 1997, at which time it started listing in $1⁄16. It did not fully implement decimal listing until January 29, 2001. That's crazy to imagine we're less than 25 years away from the decimalization of the NYSE.
- krallja 3y agoEight bits in a (modern) byte, eight bits in a buck. I wonder if there was a conscious or subconscious correction by the team designing the IBM 360 to align with the existing “standard.”
- bschne 3y agoseems hard to pin down exactly, but in this Computerphile interview the gist seems to be "if you get to the point where you want a distinct code for upper- and lowercase characters, digits, and a few punctuation symbols, you land a little north of six bits, an odd number of bits would be annoying to implement in hardware, so let's go for eight." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuScajG_FuI&t=184s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuScajG_FuI&t=184s
- bee_rider 3y agoI wonder when a bit of memory crossed over a bit of money. Pretty early I guess.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- mc32 3y agoIn other tunes it was bay rum instead of two bits.
- neom 3y ago2 bit is still used in Canada as an indicator of something less than good, otherwise unused.
- pavel_lishin 3y agoI've definitely heard expressions that go something like, "Why you no-good, two-bit etc etc!", and never connected that to this until now.
- TeMPOraL 3y agoMe neither! I always tentatively assumed it's about computer bits, where two bits would be "not much", and that somehow it entered into normie vernacular. So, TIL that this is another case of society and culture in the 19th and 20th century US evolving primarily around the stock exchange :o.
- bregma 3y agoTIL Yosemite Sam was the rootinest, tootinest computer geek this side of the Pecos.
- madcaptenor 3y agoAnd of course bytes are divided into eight bits - but that's just a coincidence, because bits came first and byte sizes weren't standardized until the 1970s.
- samatman 3y agoI suspect that "bit" for binary digit and "bit" as in "two bits" is a deliberate convergence more than pure coincidence. Tukey coined the term right after the war, which is a cultural high water mark for the term two bits. It doesn't hurt that "a bit" also means the least of something one might reasonably consider, this is where the bit as a sliver of the Spanish Dollar comes from in the first place, eight pieces being about as small as it was feasible to divide the coin into. Hence two bits for the quarter.
- al_borland 3y ago
- harimau777 3y agoFun fact: The quarter being worth two bits is part of the same "split a dollar up into eights" system that resulted in Spanish dollars being called a "pieces of eight". A Spanish dollar was worth eight Spanish reals. So a quarter of a dollar would be worth two Spanish reals; hence two bits. Presumably the terminology stuck around even after the switch to US dollars.
- hprotagonist 3y agoregarding “bits” as a monetary term: it took me a solid decade to get the joke in “Making Money” regarding why Reacher Gilt taught his parrot to say “12.5%”
- messe 3y agoFor those who don't get it, it's a reference to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island which features a parrot that repeats "Pieces of Eight" (also known as a bit).
- 082349872349872 3y agoIf your bird repeats "Pieces of Seven" you should check its settings; it might have a parroty error.
- baruz 3y agoslow clap
- bombcar 3y agohttps://wiki.lspace.org/Main_Page https://wiki.lspace.org/Main_Page Is a great resource for this; so many of the books have deep or obscure British jokes that even Native English (simplified) ((American)) don’t get.
- MrJohz 3y agoI was thinking of a different Pratchett joke: in Making Money, Moist is told to use the barber's knock: "shave and a haircut, no legs!" I'm rereading the Moist series again, and it is so incredibly thick with humour and references. I mean, all of the books are, but that series really feels like him at the top of his game.
- hprotagonist 3y ago"the smoking GNU"
- miniatureape 3y agoA made a little “secret knock” authentication demo. Shave and a haircut is obviously the secret knock used in the demo https://miniatureape.github.io/prohibition/ https://miniatureape.github.io/prohibition/ (Nb: I’m sure this doesn’t work great on some devices)
- jodacola 3y agoFun! Over a decade ago, my boss and I added a secret knock using Shave and a Haircut just like this to our wayfinder product, a large touchscreen app used on trade show floors. It’s how we got into our admin to maintenance them at the shows and was useful if something was wrong with the onscreen keyboard (or we didn’t have our own keyboard to attach).
- mattbee 3y agoI used it for a silly credits screen in football trivia game - summer 2002 I could knock on the screen of a many pub trivia machine to make it show my name :)
- toxik 3y agoIt just always says scram no matter what I do, I can record a single knock and it will still say "scram". Latest Safari on latest macOS.
- esposito 3y agoI couldn't get it to pass on my phone, but "scram"/"get out of here" is equivalent to a password rejected/401 response. A single knock does not match the expected pattern, so you would expect it to be rejected.
- bmacho 3y agoNo, there is a recording function that is supposed to let us in (I think?), but I don't know how
- 3y ago
- mkmk 3y ago> The former prisoner of war and U.S. Navy seaman Doug Hegdahl reports fellow U.S. captives in the Vietnam War would authenticate a new prisoner's U.S. identity by using "Shave and a Haircut" as a shibboleth, tapping the first five notes against a cell wall and waiting for the appropriate response. With the mass export of western culture, I wonder if there are any songs, tunes, or patterns like this that would still reliably work as a shibboleth.
- pavel_lishin 3y agoI imagine they would have to be hyper-local at this point. You could authenticate someone from a major metropolis, maybe, but not likely the whole of the US.
- mchaver 3y agoThe whole of the US would be hard since national level news and culture is what is getting exported, but local knowledge by state/region is a possible source. Like pronunciation of location names pronunciation (like pronunciation of Tilamuk Oregon, Miami Oklahoma, etc.), songs and chants for university sports teams, and jingles and phrases from local commercials. Rock Chalk...
- buildsjets 3y agoI enjoy watching recent Seattle arrivals attempt to pronounce Mukilteo, Sequim, and Sekiu. I grew up in Long Island, New York, and there used to be a radio commercial for a local insurance company that bagged on national competitors for not being able to pronounce Ronkonkoma. Other local place names that were difficult for some to pronounce, mostly indigenous language derived, were Quogue, Patchogue, Cutchogue, Yaphank, Massapequa, Secatogue. If you can rattle those off in 1 or 2 seconds, and still throw in a four letter epithet, you can pass as a local. F'n Quogue.
- bitwize 3y agoLouisiana has a long list of place names like this. New Orleans street names alone have standard pronunciations, many of which are not obvious especially if you've seen the name in other contexts. Then there are the city names like Plaquemines, Natchitoches, and even New Orleans itself (if you say "new or-LEENZ" like Chuck Berry you will be immediately flagged as an outsider). I reminded my wife of Natchitoches every time she complained about pronouncing Massachusetts place names like Leominster when we lived up north.
- ipsum2 3y agoThere's a tune that's very similar to "Shave and a Haircut", but in a minor key, replacing the two eights with a triplet and a chromatic part. (Notes are: G D Db D Eb D; F# G) Does anyone know what its called?
- emi2k01 3y agoWow, this is very interesting. In Mexico, it's used to insult another person. I always thought it was a Mexico-thing.
- croes 3y ago[flagged]
- pixelpoet 3y ago[flagged]
- jh3 3y agoWow, so "two bits" is what Roger says in response to Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I can hear it now, but I never actually knew what was said.
- arp242 3y agoI never understood that either. It only took me about 30 years to get the joke.
- tanseydavid 3y agoThis is the funniest scene in the entire movie IMHO. Roger's compulsive, uncontrollable need to respond with "Two Bits" kills me every time.
- willcipriano 3y agoI've seen dozens of memes using the same gag but with a popular song or catch phrase.
- MBCook 3y agoRight. As a toon Roger can’t not respond. It’s how Doom forces him to reveal himself.
- Klonoar 3y agoIf you’re a Seinfeld fan, listen to how George knocks on the door in “The Butter Shave”. :)
- schneems 3y agoIf you do the ending pattern 8 times it becomes “shave and a haircut, two bytes”
- nateburke 3y agoAre there other rhythms that can convey the same or more information in fewer knocks?
- mondobe 3y agoI would argue that three knocks at regular (quick) intervals is the minimum to convey "there's someone at the door" rather than "something fell down in the other room".
- weinzierl 3y agoRelated: "na-na na-na na-na" https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/na-na_na-na_na-na https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/na-na_na-na_na-na I always wondered if anyone else noticed, how the Jackson 5 smuggled it into ABC. https://youtu.be/ho7796-au8U?t=01m24s https://youtu.be/ho7796-au8U?t=01m24s
- aeortiz 3y agoHave you heard it in Queen's "We are the champions"? "No time for losers, for we are the Champions" ... etc
- adrianmonk 3y agoI'm glad I'm not the only one. I noticed that and asked a friend, and they didn't see it. To me, when you consider both how it sounds and the theme of the song, it has to be intentional.
- bee_rider 3y agoQueen has to be one of the winners in terms of shortness of the message required, you can probably get by with just a STOMP-STOMP
- Biganon 3y agoIn French it's "na-na na-na nère"
- pimlottc 3y ago“Batman!”
- probably_satan 3y agoI always thought it was "match in a gas-tank...to bits!"
- rsaz 3y agoWow, so this is the where Nardwuar's "Doot doola doot do..." comes from! I always wondered how it was so ubiquitous that even people unfamiliar with his interviews knew how to respond. Very interesting.
- kome 3y agoI was thinking the same!
- xxr 3y agoI’m interested in learning where you’re from—I’d assume outside of North America/Western Europe? I take familiarity with it so much for granted that it’s fascinating that someone’s familiarity with it comes from Narduwar.
- rsaz 3y agoI am from North America actually, I’m curious where your association with it comes from. I just spend a lot of time on youtube/listening to hip hop so have heard Nardwuar do it many times. I’m vaguely familiar with it otherwise too, but wouldn’t be able to place it anywhere.
- MBCook 3y agoI’m American. It was in the movie Roger Rabbit, which came out when I was 5 (40 now). And I know I knew it then. I assume I learned it from looney tunes or some other cartoon. But it was ubiquitous enough everyone knew it. To me it feels a little bit like asking how you know who Superman is. It’s just too engrained.
- nomilk 3y agoFor Nardwuar fans (and those who've never heard of him), this talk is amazing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26678512 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26678512 He is 100/100 for initiative. Surprisingly relevant to HN'er folks like ourselves.
- 3y ago
- harimau777 3y agoWhen I was in high school jazz band, there was a similar lick that came at the end of a lot of songs "what makes your big head so hard". Presumably it originally came from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldonia. However, I'm having trouble finding references to it's use as a riff/lick. So maybe it was something that was specific to our band? Edit: An example of this lick would be the end of the Beatle's "I want to hold your hand": https://youtu.be/v1HDt1tknTc?t=137 https://youtu.be/v1HDt1tknTc?t=137
- eikaramba 3y agoi have a little IOT device[0] which has a starting animation with LEDS when you reset it. i used that tune for the LED animation (without sound) just the timings. funny enough i never knew where it came from just that it was in my head and always associated with looney tunes. Finally i know its origin :) [0] https://notific.at https://notific.at
- remarkEon 3y agoIn the survival/extraction/horror game Escape From Tarkov, this rhythm is used to signal "friendly" when there's no other means of communication.
- plasticsoprano 3y agoThe Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps ended many of their segments in the 80s with "Watch out for that tree" rhythm from the George of the Jungle theme. Seen here[1] around 10:20 to 10:22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlYOBu9CzNI&t=618s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlYOBu9CzNI&t=618s
- smugma 3y ago… two bits!
- johnea 3y ago[flagged]
- Sohcahtoa82 3y ago...what? Are you okay?
- curiousfab 3y agoInterestingly Wikipedia says the Morse version of it is Morse code "dah-di-di-dah-di, dah-dit" ( –··–· –· ) IMHO more common is to send "ESE" (. ... .) - and the other station replies "EE" (. .) https://lcwo.net/ext/player?z=MjR%2BfjIwfn42MDB%2BfkVTRSBFRQ%3D%3D https://lcwo.net/ext/player?z=MjR%2BfjIwfn42MDB%2BfkVTRSBFRQ... "ESE" is a popular Amateur radio call-sign suffix among Morse enthusiasts for that reason.
- thrtythreeforty 3y agoIt's used unironically/noncomedically as a final banjo lick in many bluegrass picking songs (the article does mention this). I heard it first there and I've always assumed it originated from American folk music. Interesting that it's quite a bit older/more general.
- huytersd 3y agoSounds like it comes from a minstrel show so it’s definitely American folk.
- unethical_ban 3y agoWhen I knock on a door, I either use this tune, or the first 7 notes of Super Mario Bros. Weird to know some US peeps don't know it!
- scelerat 3y agoI like the variation where the note for "hair" is played a half step flat. In the example on the wikipedia page, the implied chords for "shave and a hair- cut" would be (original) G / . C G shave and a hair cut (variation) G / . Eb7 D7 shave and a hair cut
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- esafak 3y agoPrincipal Ed Rooney gives the finger and two bits in Ferris Bueller's Day Off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li_jp3mYXLA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li_jp3mYXLA
- WalterBright 3y agoTwo bits meaning 25 cents came from an early practice of cutting a Spanish silver dollar into 8 pieces with four cuts. That's also where "piece of eight" as a reference to the Spanish dollar comes from.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- amelius 3y agoHow many catchy tunes would fit that exact pattern?
- User23 3y agoIt's rather striking that a dollar today is worth considerably less than a penny when this was written, at least with respect to grooming services.
- teknico 3y agoIt’s even more striking once you look into the history of money, and realize what’s going on. End the Fed.
- cml123 3y ago[dead]
- ddingus 3y agoQUE: ROGER RABBIT STAGE RIGHT [SCREAMS] TWO BITS!
- wsintra2022 3y ago[flagged]
- Sharlin 3y agoClapping the rhythm of the "challenge" part can be very effective in getting the attention of a group of distracted people that you want to address. It’s so well known that almost anyone instinctually claps the response when they hear the challenge. As a sharp percussive sound, clapping is also readily audible over chatter.
- elihu 3y agoI've been playing Beyond All Reason (an open-source RTS) lately, and noticed that if I want to build a handful of some unit, I'd unconsciously click five times in a "shave and a haircut" pattern.
- chasing 3y agoSee also: “The stars at night are big and bright…”
- ks2048 3y agoThis has to be near the top of the list of things people “know of”, but don’t have a word/phrase for.
- tomcam 3y agoThe famous Roger Rabbit moment cued up: https://www.youtube.com/embed/6ds6w7SkHyw?&start=54&end=62 https://www.youtube.com/embed/6ds6w7SkHyw?&start=54&end=62
- cka 3y agoThere's a common workflow I use at work that involves taking the default 10 times before inputting what I need to use. I do double shave and a haircut quickly instead of counting return presses.
- neilv 3y agoI have an unintended variation on that... Once a day, I have to press a button on my kitchen scale 4 times, to switch it from grams to fl.oz. It seems that the the fastest tempo at which one can press the button 4 times... matches the "1-2-3-4" at the start of the song people might know from "JK Wedding Entrance Dance". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0 (I have a different association with the sequence 4-3-2-1, reminding me of the Peter Schilling song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0A0XcWy88&t=41s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0A0XcWy88&t=41s )
- _sys49152 3y agoim chronically horrific when it comes to interpreting lyrics correctly. ever since ive been small up to present day. for example rage against the machine 'wearing your badge and your trophy wife' always thought this was 'shave and a haircut, to be.' my solution has been to just give up on words in songs altogether.
- kristianp 3y agoTangentially, I didn't realise that the Spanish peso was the first global currency and was used in the U.S. Bit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(money) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(money)