Shave And A Haircut Two Bits Origin

There is an old song that ends with shave and a haircut six bits asked in hair what to do if your friend gets a bad haircut. As the song says a shave and a haircut in early cumberland county barber shops cost around a quarter or two bits.

April May 2004

Shave and a haircut and the associated response two bits is a 7 note musical call and response couplet riff or fanfare popularly used at the end of a musical performance usually for comic effect.

Shave and a haircut two bits origin. 1952 peter de vries no but i saw the movie the door buzzer sounds seven times to the rhythm of shave and a haircut two bits and the door opens. Everyone is familiar with the knocking pattern thats often associated with shave and a haircut two bits i was recently in europe and noticed that it is also used there. The earliest example i have been able to find comes in.

Two bits is an archaism in the united states for 25 cents. Shave and a haircut two bits aka the barbers knock comes from post civil war dot code the predecessor to morse code they would use hand sets to transmit and each operator had their own style however the noise for shave and a haircut two bits was their operator signonsignoff signal so when they say two bits they mean 2 data bits as in computer terms. One bit two bits three bits a dollar all those in favor.

Im not positive its correct but it sounded good enough to satisfy my curiosity. In our local communities the barber shop was and still is a place where men go to get that shave haircut or both and while they wait their turn to exchange the local gossip personal views on the weather and on the politics of the day. It is sometimes said that the same little tune is used for an obscenity in spanish.

It is used both melodically and rhythmically for example as a door knock. Reisers treasure hunting emporium recommended for you. I had been told the words were shave and a haircut two bits but that was the extent of my knowledge on the subject.

The addendum two bits the shave plus haircuts price 25 cents is just two sounds either added by the original speaker or given as a response. This is also why the knock is. Shave and a haircut two bits.

I found a site that explained the origin to my satisfaction and which ive included below. Six bits is occasionally used. Tum tum appears to have been originated in the 1890s the linking of the tune to the rhythm of an actual knock comes later.

If someone would kindly do the researchedit for this i will explain the correct answer to two bits. Can you shed any light.

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