[Dixielandjazz] Jazz In New Orleans

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Before small coinage was readily available, in the 1500's, they would take 
an axe and using it like a chisel place the coin on a piece of steel and hit 
the axe with a hammer cutting the Piece of Eight or Spanish Dollar into bits 
each worth one Real.  A piece of eight or Spanish Dollar was worth eight 
Realies.

That's my two bits worth ---
Larry
StL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Ringwald" <rsr at ringwald.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz In New Orleans


> When I was a kid, my dad used to use the expression "two bits", meaning 25 
> cents.
>
> --Bob
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "James O'Briant" <jobriant at garlic.com>
> To: "Bob Ringwald" <rsr at ringwald.com>
> Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 9:13 AM
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz In New Orleans
>
>
>> Dave Richoux wrote:
>>
>>> The locals say it sort of like PICKY-YOON (rhymes with Moon)
>>> http://www.forvo.com/word/picayune/  is close.
>>> the word means: Small or nit-picky (It was a Spanish coin
>>> worth more than a nickel and less than a dime-- 6 1/4 cents
>>> to be precise)
>>
>> This is part of the same monetary system as "two bits."  Spanish
>> Dollars were often cut into eight pieces ("pieces of eight"), and
>> each piece was a "bit," valued at 12 1/2 cents. A quarter of a
>> dollar was four bits, a half a dollar was four bits, etc.
>>
>> A picayune was half a bit, or 6 1/4 cents.
>>
>> Jim O'Briant
>> Gilroy, CA
>> Tubist and fount of useless trivia
>>
>>
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