# Pieces of Eight! *The Whorl list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 10 May 1998* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Charles Dye *10 May 1998, 21:43* "Gordon Brain" can do cant, can't he.... > (doesn't make a) bad bit's difference – 'Makes no difference'. From bit as > in small coin worth 12.5 cents (i.e. one eighth of a dollar - related to > 'piece of eight' = old Spanish dollar ?), survives in phrase 'two bit …' > meaning cheap, not worth much. Bad bit = counterfeit small coin, so worth > even less. Yes. But note that these "bits" are pieces of computer cards! Computer geeks have been getting milage out of this pun for decades: a bit is an eighth of a byte, so a byte must be worth a dollar. Eric S. Raymond, for instance, lists "quarter" in "The New Hacker's Dictionary" (recommended!) as two bits, and specifically mentions the Spanish silver dollar connection. Sad irony: The computer revolution has just wiped out the last surviving use of the monetary "bit" in the U.S.A. Stocks are now being traded in sixteenths of dollars instead of eighths, preparatory to purely decimal trading. > "Tis no Disparagement to understand the Canting Terms: It may chance to > save your Throat from being cut, or, (at least) your Pocket from being > Pick'd." > > Elisha Coles (1676) Beautiful! raster at highfiber.com ---