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Nov 6, 2023 · Lately I‘ve been curious – why do Americans say "two bits" when referring lightheartedly to a quarter dollar? Where did this odd slang come from? In exploring this linguistic curiosity, I discovered the key lies in early Spanish coins that were quite literally cut into "bits".
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The quarter's nickname "two bits" comes from a time when Spanish dollar where in use in the US and were cut into 8 smaller parts, each one worth 12 1⁄2c.
Feb 23, 2013 · In Spanish it became known as a peso de ocho ****; in English it was a “piece of eight”. The peso quickly became a global currency. It was relatively pure silver, it was uniform in size and weight, and it had one special characteristic: it could be divided like a pie into eight reales .
Aug 15, 2018 · Two-bits, four-bits, six-bits, and eight-bits make reference to the eight-reales silver coin of New Spain and Mexico. It is also called a piece of eight and circulated in the English Colonies...
- Coinweek
The term was imported into North American English as a result of contact with the Spanish Empire (and following Independence, contact with Mexico). The "real de a ocho" coin was often cut into eight parts to "make change" in a very physical way. The "pieces of eight" or "eight bits to a dollar" did not mesh well with the decimal system of ...
Apr 3, 2018 · Before we get to the juicy bits—the art—I just want to take a few paragraphs to look at what happened in Spain during this period (which wasn’t even really “Spain” until the end of the 1400s). Let’s start by looking at a brief timeline (borrowed from BBC) to help us:
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Spanish steps. It’s a little known fact that the US currency is based on the old Spanish system of “eights”. Each coin had eight pieces – these slices, parts, or bits were called “pieces of eight” – and two of them, “two bits” made a quarter.
