Where does the saying "my two cents" come from?
 

Google didn't want to tell me. Anyone care to enlighten me?

From a game of poker?

i dont know but it beats "nuff said"

from an old chinese kung fu master who said "if you go to bed wit itchy ass you wake up wit smerry finger but dats jus my 2 cents"

someone's gotta know

Here's one explanation.

Google is my friend.

good guess - lol - heres another explanation .. i like the first one better ... found it - here http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOriginsData.htm (thanks google)

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.

Thanks! Now just which explanation to believe.. :)

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I don't know.

just my 2 cents