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To: nickcarraway

Ocho Reales were legal tender in the US until 1857. They were often cut to “bits” to fractionalize the value. There was 8 (Ocho) bits to a coin and that’s where the term “two bits” meaning a Quarter Dollar came from.


4 posted on 08/01/2025 3:28:18 PM PDT by atomic_dog
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To: atomic_dog

One day I used the term ‘two bits’ with a young engineer.

They were about 25 years old, and did not know what that meant.

So I did explain it. Utterly news to them.


5 posted on 08/01/2025 3:31:17 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (Running Rampant, and not endorsing nonsense; My pronoun is EXIT. And I am generally full of /S)
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To: dfwgator

“pieces of eight”

https://youtu.be/dFJwGfDeuOA?si=vHGs5rpCeNTRFZY9


6 posted on 08/01/2025 3:53:31 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: atomic_dog

Shave and a haircut... ;-)


11 posted on 08/01/2025 6:08:43 PM PDT by Axenolith (Don’t bother holding my beer, I’ll finish it first…)
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