Bit (money)

All you want to know about Bit (money)

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

Contents

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 currency was 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

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(money)"

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