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Two bits meaning8/3/2023 ![]() ![]() ( The Boston Globe)Ĭongress would benefit from an authentic American and Montana cowboy, rather than those two-bit phony drug store cowboys who wear fancy cowboy boots to Washington. Sampson, 41, looked like what he’d been for years: a deadbeat dad, a two-bit thief, a desperate alcoholic running from a past he couldn’t bear to face. When he showed up on his former father-in-law’s doorstep in Madison, N.H., five days ago, Gary L. This new comedy is yet another spin on a “dysfunctional family,” with Kaitlin Olson (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) as a “two-bit hustler” who must assume the guardianship of her sister’s children. Of course, negotiating with China is not as simple as negotiating with a two-bit subcontractor from Nevada. ![]() Note that the term is hyphenated, two-bit is a closed compound word. Interestingly, America’s history concerning the Spanish dollar lives on in the fossil word, two-bit. These coins were the Spanish silver reales, eight of which made up the Spanish dollar which is also known as a piece of eight. As you probably know, information travels over wires inside the computer, and each wire is either on. The use of the term bit dates back to the 1700s when Spanish and Mexican coins circulated in the English colonies. We usually represent the two values as 0 (off) and 1 (on). These “bits” are only referred to in terms of twos, such as two bits, four bits or six bits. ![]() In America, two-bits is slang for twenty-five cents, each “bit” being equal to twelve and a half cents. The term is derived from the noun two-bits, which is a monetary figure. Hence "two bits" is a quarter.Two-bit is an adjective that describes something inferior, something cheap, something sub par. Two pieces of eight is equal to one quarter. One eighth of a coin was called a "piece of eight" and also called a "bit". Coins could be split into halfs, quarters, and eighths. This is how one would make change so to speak. To obtain currency valued at less than a full gold coin, coins would be scored and split into pieces. Gold and silver coins once served as currency, with the value of the coin equal to the value of the gold or silver contained in the coin. Today we have coins minted in different denominations - nickel, dime, and quarter in the U.S. This comes from the older term "piece of eight". Two bits means one quarter (currently the American twenty five cent piece). This phrase draws an analogy to the poker ante ( two bits) and gains your entry into the conversation. When playing poker you have to make a small bet before the cards are dealt called an "ante" to begin play in that hand. "Put my two cents in" originates from the older "put my two bits in" and has its origin in the game of poker. 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. ![]() If you have one, you lay it triumphantly down, and save two and a half cents. But how about an odd bit? The nearest coin to it is a dime, which is, short by a fifth. When it comes to two bits, the quarter-dollar stands for the required amount. The supposed value of the bit is twelve and a half cents, eight to the dollar. 144:1 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. from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. Robert Louis Stevenson describes his experience with bits in Across the Plains, p. adjective Slang Worth very little petty or insignificant. currency in 1794, there was no longer a coin worth of a dollar but " two bits" remained in the bit and 15¢ a long bit. One eighth of a dollar or one silver real was one "bit". In the U.S., the "bit" as a designation for money dates from the colonial period, when the most common unit of currency used was the Spanish dollar, also known as "piece of eight", which was worth 8 Spanish silver reales. In the U.S, the bit is equal to 1/8 of a dollar or 12.5 cents. ![]()
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