[gameprogrammer] $0.02 worth

On Fri, 2005-05-06 at 11:42 +0200, Olof Bjarnason wrote:
> It's an american expression which reads "just my two cents" and means
> something like "just my humble point of view". The origins I'm not so
> sure of; does americans have to pay to express their opinion? ;)

A quick google search gets:

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. 


Lifted from 
http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOriginsData.htm

BTW, Pieces of eight were an old Spanish coin. Those coins, and their
eight bits, were widely circulated throughout North and Central America
for centuries.

        Shave, and a haircut, two bits!

                Bob Pendleton

> 
> /Olof
> 
> On 5/6/05, Szasz Pal <space@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Hi!
> > I think this pointer notation is also mentioned in some coding style
> > (maybe the GNU?), anyway also in that guide they also mentioned the
> > problem of declaring two variables.
> > On the other hand some coding guides say one should never declare two
> > variables of the same line, and in case of global/class variables I agree=
> .
> >=20
> > About pointers, if you want to make a clear, readable code, use typedef.
> >=20
> > And IMHO it helps a lot in understanding points, if you learn a little
> > bit of assembly.
> >=20
> > Zac Propersi wrote:
> > > Just my $0.02.
> >=20
> > Sorry, I'm a little bit offtopic here, but what does this saying mean,
> > and where does it originate from? I saw it a lot of times.
> >=20
> > --
> > Best regards,
> > Szasz Pal
> > ----------------
> > Space Software Studio
> > http://www.spacesoftwarestudio.com
> >=20
> > -- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis --
> > -- Type: text/x-vcard
> > -- File: space.vcf
> >=20
> >=20
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> 
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