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The term derives from the practice of cutting a peso into eight radial slices to make change. Each of these pieces was called a bit, and equal in value to a Spanish Real . UNITED STATES The term persists colloquially in the United States as a holdover from colonial America when Spanish dollars minted in Mexico, Bolivia and other Spanish colonies were the widest circulating coin. Spanish dollars were deemed equivalent in value to a U.S. Dollar . Thus, twenty-five cents was dubbed "two bits," as it was a quarter of a Spanish dollar. Correspondingly, the terms "four bits" and "six bits" referred to fifty and seventy-five cents, respectively. Because there was no one-bit coin, a Dime (10c) was sometimes called a ''short bit'' and 15c a ''long bit''. For example, "Six-Bits Blues" by Langston Hughes included the following Couplet : ''Gimme six bits' worth o'ticket''/''On a train that runs somewhere…''. 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 , according to the research staff at the NYSE. 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 |