One can almost see and hear them now: Louella, Patsy, Angela, Louise, Dolores and Julie leading a cheer. These cheerleaders for Immaculate Conception School went through the motions as they shouted:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar. All for the Colts, stand up and holler.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d They chanted that way back in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc50s.<\/p>\n
Much is implied in that shout. First, you may have surmised that if eight bits equal a dollar, a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is 12-1\/2 cents and that the Colts are either a basketball or a football team. And you may already know the school no longer exists.<\/p>\n
I was drawn to the argument someone made a few years back about how inadequate coins and currency are. If we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d all been born with only eight fingers, we wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the dime or the half-dollar, or, for that matter, any other current currency or coins.<\/p>\n
During Colonial times, a Spanish milled dollar, a commonly used coin, often got divided into eight parts, pizza style, with each segment becoming a bit. Put them all together and what do you get? A dollar. The literal slicing up of the coin served as a convenient way of making change. Now aside from the derogatory meaning that often goes with two bits, as in a two-bit politician, the coin ought to be re-issued. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just the right quantity and value for many smaller transactions.
\nBut it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be, as long as people continue to be born with 10 fingers and the same number of toes. Like people who suffered learning the British pound, pence and halfpenny, Americans would have trouble fishing out three bits for a 30-cent transaction.<\/p>\n
But back to cheerleaders. A rival basketball team, the Santa Fe Demons, hosted the Colts during a tournament and must\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve liked our cheerleaders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153two bits, four bits, etc.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d cheer and decided to do us one better. After halftime, the Capital City crew shouted out a bi-lingual version: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Two bits, four bits, six bits, a peso. All for the Demons, stand us and seh-so.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Seh-so?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d With a short \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Sez who? Well, some cheers work, some don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Fortunately, our cheerleaders didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t attempt a tri-lingual quid pro quo.<\/p>\n
Even back then, I wondered why people used terms about which they had little knowledge. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d To many, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a paltry amount or the first letters of an insult, or what the dog did.<\/p>\n
So when do we hear the term \u00e2\u20ac\u0153two bits\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the amount barbers in the olden days charged for a shave and a haircut. But aside from that, the meaning of two bits usually connotes something cheap, gaudy or tawdry.<\/p>\n
I searched for the Spanish equivalent of two bits and got rescued by Merryl Kravitz, an education professor at Highlands, who said that in Spanish, the term is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dos reales.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even a video on the subject and a band with that name. Although the bit or real has been out of production for centuries, there remain traces of its utility.<\/p>\n
For example, Kravitz said, some people today, clinging to terminology of their ancestors, continue to use terms that long ago faded into oblivion.<\/p>\n
Once, when I was 11, selling Optics in the most productive places \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Las Vegas taverns \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a fellow Optic seller, Joe Guerin, emerged from a saloon called the Casino. Excited, he told me an intoxicated man had bought all his papers, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Y me dio cuatro reales.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Well, wanting to take part in this bonanza, I entered the bar. But first, let me explain that a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d meant nothing to me. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cuatro\u00e2\u20ac\u009d did, and I would settle for four of anything, as long as they were coins or currency. And in a way, I did even better than Joe. The drunk man handed me a quarter, with the pronouncement that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d given me \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mis ultimos reales.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The real perk for me was that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d given me his last two bits but allowed me to keep the newspapers, which I sold elsewhere and came close to planning my retirement cottage.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, I paid for my flirtation with riches. Thinking about the man in the bar upset me, causing me to lose sleep. What if that act of philanthropy cost him his marriage? What if his kids starved while people like Joe and me luxuriated?<\/p>\n
Oh yes, a million thoughts raced. I even thought about the man who had embezzled $100 from his boss but was overcome with guilt. So after the customary tossing in his sleep, he decided to mail back \u00e2\u20ac\u201d anonymously \u00e2\u20ac\u201d $50 of the pilfered amount. He attached a note explaining how bad he felt and added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If my conscience continues to bother me, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll mail you the rest of it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I actually returned to the Casino with the idea of settling with the man, but he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t there. I never saw him again. I was convinced, at least for that afternoon, that I would have done the right thing by returning his reales. But the next day …<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s abandon hopes of seeing a bit or a real again. But could their return come anywhere near to costs to manufacture coins today? According to USA Today, it costs 1.25 cents to make a penny, 1.23 cents for a nickel, 2.99 cents for a dime and 7.33 cents for a quarter.<\/p>\n
And if a penny saved is a penny earned, one might actually be losing .50 or 1\/2 cent in the bargain? Go figure!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One can almost see and hear them now: Louella, Patsy, Angela, Louise, Dolores and Julie leading a cheer. These cheerleaders for Immaculate Conception School went through the motions as they shouted: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar. All for the Colts, stand up and holler.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d They chanted that way back in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc50s. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions\/462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}