two bits

1. Informal. Twenty-five cents.
2. Slang. A petty sum.

noun

A small or trifling amount of money: small change. Informal peanut (used in plural). Slang chicken feed. See big/small/amount, money.

For nothing; for a petty sum. For example, For two cents I'd quit the club entirely. Similarly, like two cents, means "of little or no value or importance, worthless," as in She made me feel like two cents. The use of two cents in this sense is thought to be derived from a similar British use of twopence or tuppence, which dates from about 1600. The American coin was substituted in the 1800s, along with two bits, slang for 25 cents and also meaning "a petty sum." Similarly, put in one's two cents or two cents' worth, meaning "to express one's unsolicited opinion for whatever it is worth," dates from the late 1800s.

Originally, a bit was a piece of real money. More precisely, it was the name used in English-speaking North America for a Spanish silver real. Eight of these bits made a Spanish dollar, known as a peso in Spanish, in English a piece of eight.

Long before the United States had its own existence, then, let alone its own money, the bit was established as one-eighth of a dollar. As early as 1683, Spanish Bitts are mentioned in colonial records of Pennsylvania. And two bits was the term for a quarter of a Spanish dollar. That amount is recorded in 1730 in the diary of John Comer of Rhode Island: "I saw peach trees in ye blossom and many delightful varieties. Cost me two bitts."

Those were the days when money was money. Coins made of precious metal had the value of the metal, and were accepted for that value, regardless of their country of origin. The "bit" bit the dust at the end of the eighteenth century, when coinage of the new United States of America was established on the decimal system and the dime became the smallest silver coin. But in our language bit lived on, especially in the phrase two bits. The vanishing of actual bits changed two bits into a slang way of saying "twenty-five cents" or "a quarter." As slang, it also can just mean "cheap," as in two-bit saloon (1875) and two-bit politicians (1945 and many other years).

The word bit is a colloquial reference to a specific coin in various coinages throughout the world.

Contents 1 United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries 2 United States 3 Danish West Indies 4 See also

United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries

Most familiarly, the threepence coin; the Thrupp'ny bit.

United States

It has been suggested that Two bits be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

To provide smaller denominations, silver dollars were cut into eighths, or "bits". Thus, twenty-five cents was dubbed "two bits," or two 12.5 cent units, as it was a quarter of a dollar. Correspondingly, the terms "four bits" and "six bits" referred to fifty and seventy-five cents, respectively. For example, "Six-Bits Blues" by Langston Hughes included the following couplet: Gimme six bits' worth o'ticket/On a train that runs somewhere….

Because there was no one-bit coin, a dime (10 ¢) was sometimes called a short bit and 15c a long bit.

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. As an adjective, "two-bit" can be used to describe something cheap or unworthy.

20 bit stamp, 1905.

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

• Two bits
• Picayune
• Shave and a Haircut

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)