Comment by droptablemain
4 hours 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?
Exactly. 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.
What is a bit, a penny?
1/8, 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.
THIS exactly and oops, I replied too quickly :)
Half a quarter.