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The famous little jingle "shave and a haircut, two bits" Most people today have no clue what a "bit" is. I imagine the future will hold something similar for
by droptablemain 11mo ago
The famous little jingle "shave and a haircut, two bits"
Most people today have no clue what a "bit" is.
I imagine the future will hold something similar for the penny in all the idioms and cultural phrases we have. What the hell is a penny?
- barbazoo 11mo agoWhat is a bit, a penny?
- dec0dedab0de 11mo ago1/8, so 2 bits is a quarter. it comes from old spanish coins that they would cut into eight pieces, or bits. I learned that after watching one of the pirates of the Caribbean movies and googling pieces of eight.
- retrocog 11mo agoTHIS exactly and oops, I replied too quickly :)
- patrickthebold 11mo agoHalf a quarter.
- retrocog 11mo agoExactly. Two bits is a quarter because the US silver dollar was modeled on the Spanish Pillar Dollar, also called pieces of eight. Hence 2/8 (two bits) = 1/4.
- fstarship 11mo agoIt’s kind of like lots of imperial measurements where we use metric still have these in idioms.
- paulmooreparks 11mo ago"I would walk 500 kilometers" just doesn't sound as romantic.