2006-12-16 00:58:08 · 6 answers · asked by dtxox 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
It originates from the Spanish Milled Dollar, also called a piece of eight. In times of shortage in change these coins would be cut into fractional pieces, eight of them in total. Two of these pieces or 'bits' represented 1/4 of a dollar. As the Spanish Dollar was the world's most popular coin for centuries and legal tender in the US up to the 1850's it is not surprising that this term entered and stayed in the American lexicon.
2006-12-16 01:08:22 · answer #1 · answered by Daniela 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There was a spanish coin called a real where the peso had a nominal value of eight reales ("royals"). The coins were often physically cut into eight "bits", or sometimes four quarters, to make smaller change. This is the origin of the colloquial name "pieces of eight" for the coin, and of "quarter" and "two bits" for twenty-five cents in the United States.
2006-12-16 09:05:08 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
because 8 bits equals a dollar?
"bits" is a British monentary denomination. It dates back hundreds of years.
2006-12-16 09:05:14 · answer #3 · answered by MK6 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
is it because it used to be know as two eights, 2 bits??
dodgy
2006-12-16 09:01:10 · answer #4 · answered by Helen 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
god knows why any thing is what it is in america,, it just is!! its a strange place
2006-12-16 09:00:30 · answer #5 · answered by mikey101 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Who knows. You're all weird.
2006-12-16 08:59:43 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋