I might be ignorant but I am sure you guys have used the term 'thats my 2 cents worth'

Why is it always 2 cents?
is there a story behind this?
I have been using the term without understanding why it is 2 cents.

Please enlighten anyone?

Umm did a search on google to try and find an answer to that but came up empty. Mind you I didn't spend allot of time looking.


Maybe someone else with more patciants can take over lol
Cheers

Back in the colonial days of the US, when the town meetings were held, all were allowed to come. But to keep the poor out of the decision making, only those who had 2 pence (cents these days) were allowed to give input and their opinion. That's why when someone gives their opinion, they say "That's my 2 cents".


























Ok I lied, I have no idea where it comes from :bawling:

Sounded good to me Rewdog

Had me going :D :D ;) ;)

I've seen two explanations, these are just bits that explan the two somewhat:

Put my two cents in" originates from the older "put my two bits in" and has its origin in the game of poker. When playing poker you have to make a small bet before the cards are dealt called an "ante" to begin play in that hand. This phrase draws an analogy to the poker ante (two bits) and gains your entry into the conversation.

the whole point of "my two cents worth," which originated in the late 19th century, is that it is a faux-modest, self-deprecating tactic used to disarm your audience before you announce your opinion. This is especially important in the event that your opinion turns out to be idiotic, in which case you can always claim that you warned your listeners in advance that your opinion was next to worthless. The phrase has long since become a cliche, and its use can be especially grating when the person announcing the arrival of his "two cents worth" is a doctor or lawyer (or a dentist, come to think of it) charging you two hundred dollars an hour. Don't get me started.

"Two cents" or "two-center" has been a slang synonym for "very cheap" since the middle of the 19th century, when the cheapest cigar available was literally a "two- center." The U.S. Treasury Department actually issued a two-cent coin in 1864, which was, incidentally, the first U.S. coin to bear the motto "In God We Trust." The government, evidently feeling frisky in a monetary sort of way, also issued coins in three-cent and twenty-cent denominations during the same period.

Don't ask me which is correct (if either), if there is more than one, etc., I have absolutely no idea.

Chicken, your first guess is correct. 2 bit's is the correlation of 2 cents. and the term started to be used after the late 1890's

mike

I was always under the impression that "two bits" referred to $.25. Shave and a haircut, two bits.

Regards,

Jeff

What, can't we come up with any new thread ideas today?

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=33662

Near the end of that thread I countered the poker ante origin idea, mostly on the grounds that "two bits," 25 cents, as long ago as the phrase would have originated was a pretty decent amount of money -- more than would be likely to be a small ante in a casual game. That is, contrast it with the term "penny ante."

But if you eliminate the idea that "my two cents" used to be "my two bits," it seems much more believable. Especially considering the existence of a two-cent coint, a two cent ante seems reasonable. I tend to think that the alleged conversion from "two bits" is probably inaccurate, the result of intermixing the origins of two different phrases.

most sources ascribe this phrase's origin to the game of poker

http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOriginsData.htm#PutMyTwoCentsIn

this site, generally well-regarded, has a different opinion

http://www.word-detective.com/back-k.html

*just mmy two cents* :cool:

My copy of the Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English doesn't have an entry for this.

It also doesn't have a search button. :bawling:

Actually in Britain its "two-penneth"!

Originally posted by JayC
What, can't we come up with any new thread ideas today?

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=33662


I think its time we compile a FPQ (Frequently Posted Questions) section

Originally posted by is0lized
most sources ascribe this phrase's origin to the game of poker Yeah, as I mentioned in the older thread most of them use identical or nearly-identical wording; suggesting that most of those sites are just copying someone else's explanation without doing any real research. Something, of course, to keep in mind when you turn to the web for answers.

I wonder how much those poker players' two cents worth is actually worth today due to inflation (ego or monetary) ;)

Originally posted by Rewdog
Back in the colonial days of the US, when the town meetings were held, all were allowed to come. But to keep the poor out of the decision making, only those who had 2 pence (cents these days) were allowed to give input and their opinion. That's why when someone gives their opinion, they say "That's my 2 cents".


























Ok I lied, I have no idea where it comes from :bawling:
Sounded pretty good to me. :laugh: :D

quote:
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"Two cents" or "two-center" has been a slang synonym for "very cheap" since the middle of the 19th century, when the cheapest cigar available was literally a "two- center." The U.S. Treasury Department actually issued a two-cent coin in 1864, which was, incidentally, the first U.S. coin to bear the motto "In God We Trust." The government, evidently feeling frisky in a monetary sort of way, also issued coins in three-cent and twenty-cent denominations during the same period.
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It wasn't a matter of "feeling frisky". In those days, a common practice was minting coins in the denomination of the current stamp denomination to make it easier to purchase postage stamps. So, when the price of a stamp for a plain letter was raised to two cents, a two cent coin was minted. Similarly with the three cent coin. (I don't remember what the twenty cent coin was for.)