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((short description|Former currency unit))
((about|the slang term for certain coins|the digital currency|Bitcoin|other uses of the term "Two bits"|Two bits (disambiguation)((!))Two bits))((Refimprove|date=December 2009))

The word '''bit''' is a colloquial expression referring to specific [[coin]]s in various [[coin]]ages throughout the world.

==United States==
[[File:Banco de alabama.jpg|thumb|right|Banknote for "Twelve and a Half Cents" = $((frac|1|8)), Alabama, 1838]]
In the US, the bit is equal to ((frac|12|1|2))¢, a designation which 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 [[Spanish real|reales]].  $((frac|8)) or 1 silver real was 1 "bit". 

With the adoption of the decimal U.S. currency in 1794, there was no longer a U.S. coin worth $((frac|1|8)), but "two bits" remained in the language with the meaning of $((frac|1|4)).  Because there was no 1-bit coin, a [[dime (U.S. coin)|dime]] (10¢) was sometimes called a ''short bit'' and 15¢ a ''long bit''.  (The [[picayune]], which was originally ((frac|1|2))((nbs))''real'' or ((frac|1|2))((nbs))bit (((frac|6|1|4))¢), was similarly transferred to the US nickel.)

In addition, Spanish coinage, like other foreign coins, continued to be widely used<ref name="Rothbard_foreign_coins">[[Murray N. Rothbard]]. [http://mises.org/books/mysteryofbanking.pdf "The Mystery of Banking"] (pdf), p.10, referenced 2009-08-24.</ref> and allowed as legal tender by Chapter XXII of the Act of April 10, 1806<ref name="Congress_Act_1806">[[Library of Congress]]. [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=002/llsl002.db&recNum=411 "An Act regulating the currency of foreign coins in the United States"], passed on April 10, 1806, referenced 2009-08-24.</ref> until the [[Coinage Act of 1857]] discontinued the practice.   

[[Robert Louis Stevenson]] describes his experience with bits in ''[[Across the Plains (book)|Across the Plains]]'', (1892) p.((nbs))144:<ref name="across-the-plains">[https://books.google.com/books?id=eMjcTV7QMlUC&dq=%22long+bit%22+%22short+bit%22+%22two+bits%22&pg=PA144 Across the Plains & Homeward: With Other Memories and Essays – Robert Stevenson, John Hyde – Google Books]</ref>

((quote|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. The supposed value of the bit is twelve and a half cents, eight to the dollar. When it comes to two bits, the quarter-dollar stands for the required amount. But how about an odd bit? The nearest coin to it is a dime, which is, short by a fifth. That, then, is called a short bit. If you have one, you lay it triumphantly down, and save two and a half cents. 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.))

((wiktionary|two bits|two-bit))

"Two bits" or "two bit" continues in general use as a [[colloquial expression]], for 25¢, or a [[quarter dollar]] as in song and [[catchphrase]] "[[Shave and a Haircut]], two bits." As an adjective, "[[wikt:two-bit|two-bit]]" describes something cheap or unworthy.

[[Roger Miller]]'s song "[[King of the Road (song)|King of the Road]]" features the lines: ''Ah, but two hours of pushin' broom buys an / Eight by twelve four-bit room'' referring to signs stating "Rooms to let, 50¢."

In the early 1930s, [[Crown Records (1930s label)|Crown Records]] was a US record label which sold records for only  25¢. The company advertised on their sleeves, "2 Hits for 2 Bits."

Another example of this use of "bit" can be found in the poem "Six-Bits Blues" by [[Langston Hughes]], which includes the following [[couplet]]: ''Gimme six bits' worth o'ticket / On a train that runs somewhere.…''

The expression also survives in the sports [[cheer]] "Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar … all for ''(player's name)'', stand up and holler!"

The [[New York Stock Exchange]] continued to list stock prices in $((frac|1|8)) until June 24, 1997, at which time it started listing in $((frac|1|16)).  It did not fully implement decimal listing until January 29, 2001.

[[Image:Stamp Danish West Indies 1905 20b.jpg|thumb|right|A 20-bit postage stamp of the Danish West Indies, 1905]]

==Danish West Indies==
From 1905 to 1917, the [[Danish West Indies]] used the [[Danish West Indian bit|bit]] as part of its currency system.  In 1904, two new currency denominations were introduced: the ''bit'' and ''[[Danish West Indian franc|francs]]'' which were overlaid on the old ''cent'' and ''[[Danish West Indies daler|daler]]'' denominations.  The four units were related as 5 bits = 1 cent, 100 bits = 20 cents = 1 franc, 100 cents = 5 francs = 1 daler.<ref>((Cite book
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXSrLbIEDBMC
 |location=
 |title=Standard Catalog of World Gold Coins 1601–Present
 |edition=6
 |publisher=Krause
 |isbn=978-1-4402-0424-1
 |editor-last=Cuhaj
 |editor-first=George S.
 |year=2009
 |page=311
 ))((Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes ))</ref> Coins were issued each denominated in two units, bits and cents, francs and cents, or francs and daler.  Postage stamps were denominated in bits and francs; the lowest value was five bits.

==United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries and Ireland==
In Britain, Ireland and parts of the former [[British Empire]], where before [[decimalisation]] a British-style currency of "[[£sd|pounds, shillings and pence]]" was in use, the word "bit" was applied colloquially to any of a range of low-denomination coins.<ref>According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' the use of the word "bit" in this sense was first recorded in 1829.</ref> Thus a [[Threepence (British coin)|threepence coin]] or "threepenny piece" was referred to as a "threepenny bit", usually pronounced "thrupny bit".

The term was used only for coins with a value of several named units (e.g., three pence), and never applied to  a [[Penny (British pre-decimal coin)|penny]], [[shilling (British coin)|shilling]], or [[half crown (British coin)|half crown]] coin.
[[Image:GeorgeVI Sixpence 1946.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A 1946 "sixpenny bit" of [[George VI]]]]

Although earlier there had been other values in circulation such as the "fourpenny bit" or "[[groat (coin)|groat]]", the "bit" coins still in use in the United Kingdom up to decimalisation in 1971 were the [[two shillings (British coin)|two-shilling bit]] (or "florin") (often "two-bob bit"), the [[sixpence (British coin)|sixpenny bit]] (or "tanner"), and the [[threepence (British coin)|threepenny bit]].

In the UK, use of the term "bit" had already disappeared with the exception of the '[[Threepence (British coin)|thruppeny bit]]', by the time British currency moved to decimal coinage and the consequential loss of the coin denominations to which it had applied. Thus a [[ten pence (British coin)|ten pence]] piece is referred to merely as "ten pence", or even "ten pee", not as a "tenpenny bit". The term 'pee' refers to the change in abbreviation of the British penny from 'd' to 'p' which denoted the 'New Penny'. 

The historic American adjective "two-bit" (to describe something worthless or insignificant) has a British equivalent in "[[wikt:tuppenny-ha'penny|tuppenny-ha'penny]]" – literally, worth two and a half (old) pence.

==See also==
*[[Picayune]]
*[[Spanish real]]
*[[Spanish dollar]]
*[[Danish West Indian daler]]
* [[List of alternative names for currency]]

==References==
((reflist))

<!--spacing-->
((DEFAULTSORT:Bit (Money)))
[[Category:Coins of the United States]]

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