My two cents.

[SnoopDog]

Ok, I'm not native english or american. But I love the language.
And I wonder where this expression comes from. 'My two cents.'
Don't get me wrong, I know exactly what is meant by that, but where does it come from. Can anyone explain??

Snoopy, puzzled

 

[Guest]

Dunno mate.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful...

Lou

 

[SnoopDog]

No problem. Maybe there is no answer, I couldn't answer a lot of german sayings. But it's just something that drives me nuts.
(If I weren't nuts already)

Snoopy

 

[Guest]

It's certainly not a British saying, probably why I haven't got the first clue.

Lou

 

[Remec]

Ok, I'm not native english or american. But I love the language.
And I wonder where this expression comes from. 'My two cents.'
Don't get me wrong, I know exactly what is meant by that, but where does it come from. Can anyone explain??

Snoopy, puzzled

I was thinking it was a social idiom of some kind, but my first search says it's actually comes out of gambling circles.

Meaning
Offer an opinion.
Origin
Poker games often required a small bet to be made by a new player before they could join the game. Notionally offering two cents (or two bits) late came to be used as a way of entering your opinion in a conversation

I found this at the Phrase Finder. http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/meanings/393950.html

It does seem plausible, but I seem to have some other origin stuck in the back of my mind for some reason.

 

[Weird Harold]

Ok, I'm not native english or american. But I love the language.
And I wonder where this expression comes from. 'My two cents.'
Don't get me wrong, I know exactly what is meant by that, but where does it come from. Can anyone explain??

Snoopy, puzzled

You're not the first to wonder this.

A google search for "my two cents" origin turned up this answer provided on another forum:

Thymox I have noticed that quite a lot of you, mainly the American posters, use the phrase 'my two cents'. Does anyone know the origin of this?
taz.devil Unfortunately we use this analogy like so many others that we have no idea of their origin. I can't say I know exactly, but just for conversation and in my opinion, comes from the U.S. Two Cent coin in some aspect. And now of it's rareity, I'm thinking that's a good start point. I must now go figure this out, it's my duty now! LOL
rshaw snagged this off the web:

Put my two cents in

Meaning: To state one's opinion.
Example: If I can put my two cents in, maintenance on that Ferrari will kill you.
Origin: "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.

Thanks to Evelyn and Dawn Rambin and Ron Akers

Two bits means one quarter (currently the American twenty five cent piece). This comes from the older term "piece of eight".

Today we have coins minted in different denominations - nickel, dime, and quarter in the U.S. - but this was not always so. Gold and silver coins once served as currency, with the value of the coin equal to the value of the gold or silver contained in the coin. To obtain currency valued at less than a full gold coin, coins would be scored and split into pieces. This is how one would make change so to speak.

Coins could be split into halfs, quarters, and eighths. One eighth of a coin was called a "piece of eight" and also called a "bit". Two pieces of eight is equal to one quarter. Hence "two bits" is a quarter.

Thanks to William M. Gatesman and Michael Welzien

Hence "Smashed to bits" literally means to break something into eighths.

I'm not sure that I agree with this explanation of the origin, but it's one explanation.

The reason I don't agree completely is that I've heard Brits use "my tuppence worth" (Tuppence being a Two Pence coin in "Old Money") and I'm sure that there is a different explanation for the origin in that form.

I think I recall reading once that a tax or fee of tuppence was charged for "soap box time" in village squares and that is the origin. I don't even recall whether it was an American or English practice, but it dates from a time when "tuppence" was a significant amount of money -- pre-American Revolution.

I think that this is just one of those idioms that is derived from so many sources that it's impossible to assign just one "true source" for it. Especially because "my two Cents" and "my two Bits" are now used interchangeably but could have different roots.

 

[SnoopDog]

Hey, thnx a lot for the effort. I guess it makes some sense now. You really helped me 'cause often those idioms (especially in a different language) get hold of me and I can't stop puzzling about them, lol

Snoopy

 

[Weird Harold]

Hey, thnx a lot for the effort. I guess it makes some sense now. You really helped me 'cause often those idioms (especially in a different language) get hold of me and I can't stop puzzling about them, lol

Snoopy

I did find one alternate explanation -- that two cents is essentially worthless and you get what you pay for, so a person is being self-deprecting in advance in case their opinion looks foolish.

That explanation explains how it's used, but not where it originated.

The problem with searching for this kind of information on the web is you get dozens of hits on people citing the same source as FACT and when you find the original source, it's mere speculation or half-remembered trivia like my suggestion that it derives from tax on public speaking .

Perhaps perdita or Og will look it up in the OED for us and give us an "official" etymology.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Ok, I'm not native english or american. But I love the language.
And I wonder where this expression comes from. 'My two cents.'
Don't get me wrong, I know exactly what is meant by that, but where does it come from. Can anyone explain??

Snoopy, puzzled

There was a newspaper columnist in New York who wrote a column titled "For Two Cents Plain", which was a reference to a plain glass of soda water, which sold for two cents at that time. He expressed opinions on a variety of topics and some of his columns were compiled into a book by the same name. I believe he also originated the phrase "Only in America", which was exalting the opportunity that some people had then to rise from humble beginnings. He won a Pulitzer award for editorial cartooning but I can't place his name. If it comes to me, I will post again.

 

[SnoopDog]

Re: Re: My two cents.

There was a newspaper columnist in New York who wrote a column titled "For Two Cents Plain", which was a reference to a plain glass of soda water, which sold for two cents at that time. He expressed opinions on a variety of topics and some of his columns were compiled into a book by the same name. I believe he also originated the phrase "Only in America", which was exalting the opportunity that some people had then to rise from humble beginnings. He won a Pulitzer award for editorial cartooning but I can't place his name. If it comes to me, I will post again.

Wow, that's cool. Honestly I didn't expect so much feedback. You guys are good.

Snoopy,

 

[oggbashan]

"Penny plain, twopence coloured" was a sales pitch for broadsheets sold at public events such as hangings.

True Crime magazines are the modern equivalent.

If this thread widens to pence instead of cents it could go on for ever...

Og

 

[SnoopDog]

Well Og, it went further than I thoight it would in the first place.

Snoopy

 

[Boxlicker101]

Hi, again. I tracked down the name of the newspaper columnist. It was Harry Golden but apparently he didn't win a Pulitzer prize. He did win some other prize for editorial cartooning during the twenties.