Why a Dollar is Called a “Buck”
Here’s one that comes up fairly often in some of the Intro to American Culture classes I give businessmen. I was surprised at just how often people would ask me this, so I started incorporating it into one of my lectures.
Ever wonder why we call dollars bucks?
It’s one of those casual words most of us use without thinking: “twenty bucks,” “a few bucks,” “big bucks”. Most of us probably use it more than the official term “dollars”. Did you ever stop to wonder why? It’s got a surprisingly deep history.
The term “buck” dates back to America’s frontier days, long before greenbacks were printed or the word “dollar” was widely in use. In fact, buck didn’t originally refer to money at all. It referred to deer hides (buckskins) which were once a legitimate and common form of currency on the American frontier.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the U.S. was still a patchwork of settlements, fur traders, and indigenous nations. There was no stable or universally accepted paper money, and despite all the coins the mint was putting out in the East, coinage was often scarce elsewhere, especially on the frontier. Barter was common, and among the most valuable trade items were pelts — especially buckskins. These were tough, practical, and widely accepted. A “buck” was a known unit of value.
Early traders — especially in areas like the Ohio River Valley — often recorded prices in terms of “bucks.” For example, one rifle might cost twenty bucks. Not dollars, but real bucks — actual deer hides. Over time, as paper money became more common, the word stuck. “Buck” shifted from meaning a skin to meaning a dollar, a semantic carryover from the barter era into the age of standardized currency.
The first documented use of “buck” to mean a dollar shows up in the early 1850s, but oral usage surely predates that. It’s the kind of slang that would’ve traveled easily due to it being short, punchy, and easy to say. And because buckskins were used so widely for trade, it became a kind of rural or working-class stand-in for “money,” one that urban speakers eventually picked up.
And now it’s everywhere. As far as I’m aware, every country that uses the term “dollar” also uses the slang term “bucks”.
Funny, isn’t it? One of the most enduring terms for our money still carries the ghost of a skinned deer, traded hand to hand on the edge of the frontier.
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What a fun fact
I never imagined that the word “bucks” which we use so casually, actually goes back to the days of fur trading and the American frontier.
https://www.reddit.com/r/funfacts/comments/1l8faco/did_you_know_why_a_dollar_is_called_a_buck/
https://www.reddit.com/r/funfacts/comments/1l8fcvv/did_you_know_why_dollar_is_called_a_buck/
This post has been shared on Reddit by @aimee.tariq through the HivePosh initiative.
Guys a question - my share got no @redditposh bot mention (maybe because it took hours until the sub mods approved it? Going pretty strong with over 200k views at the moment - anything we can do :-)? @acidyo @x-rain
https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/1l8o8oz/why_a_dollar_is_called_a_buck/
Guys a question - my share got no @redditposh bot mention (maybe because it took hours until the sub mods approved it? Going pretty strong with over 200k views at the moment - anything we can do I get my rewards for the views and traffic :-)? @acidyo @x-rain
EDIT - now over 425k views and still growing :-)!
https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/1l8o8oz/why_a_dollar_is_called_a_buck/
apologies for two comments (had internet issues hence a double post instead of edit one comment only) @x-rain @acidyo
As I said in the other comment, waiting approval posts never get caught by the bot when approved, so either don't share there or let's see if @acidyo or @x-rain come out with some other idea
Oh, did not know that re apporval waiting subs -assume @acidyo @x-rain will find a solution given it is my first post that is now getting close to 500k views :-). Since submittiong for our contest within one hour another 40k views more.
Thanks mate!
It would require some dev work/check I suppose to fix it... For the contest it's ok, redditposh comment or not as long as it's a hive link shared, but for the rewards it's gone, I wouldn't want to let the guys do more manual work and ping them everytime there is a post waiting mods approved
Well - I have a different view on that - not asking for dev work but think we are doing this to get traffic to Hive so 5k views on ecency for the post is not that bad - if it is the official rule rewards would be gone when mod approval is required - then everyone should know about that rule/topic.
If that is the case and we have posts that really drive traffic and it does not get rewarded because of bot triggering only I am out of this then.
Well the rewards are given on the redditposh comment, it's how the project works as of now... If there is no comment then everytime you need to ping the guys and make exceptions, what would be then the minimum for ping? 100 votes? 200? I don't know... Let's wait for the guys to answer, their project their rules
I know - but leaves room for improvement then. I only ping when I see relevance or am not sure - if there are rules then they should be pinned somewhere.
I will not ping for a 10k view reddit share - but it seems you are closer here or a team member - all good then. I prefer clear rules - and still say what I want to say no matter if whales would flag me to nirvana :-).
My 2Cents about redditposh
Just really my 2Cents (or 50) - I love @redditposh and the initiative -guys such as @acidyo often get attacked - I was not always in agreement with him at all points at all - but whatever he is DOING something for the chain - this is waht I appreciate - one does not need to be close friends but can agree if someone is trying, trying and working asses of - this is what @acidyo and @x-rain and many others do - not all is successful - different topic but rather I have people do something vs others that always complain about chain and whales are in circle jerks and do it only as of their own rewards (Sorry that I complained now as well haha!)
What I love about @redditposh in particular (just my personal feelings/opinion and my reason to support it)
1 - gamification of contest is really fun (getting rewards for this in addition are sweet of course)
2 - driving traffic is needed for Hive as an ecoystem (not only socal media content part) - great stuff
3 - Supports onboarding new users and (to me even more important) investors, ideal companies that see value of the chain - onboarding is difficult but when we onboarded someone it is even more important to support them and show them why this blockchain is great for their own efforts or for their business, enough reasons for that are outlined everywhere (maybe not prominently enough on our UIs though as first point of contact) - even we are niche we are better than a lot other chains
4 - My interest as a user since August 2016 mainly to acquire "good" users and investors to Hive and keep them here, make them ambassadors for the chain.
5 - What I struggle with redditposh sometimes is we spam (too frequently) low effort shit content which gets declined, downvoted, deleted - fair enough - trial and error - but some content that is posted via accounts with no votes / reputation, that decline rewards and are easyily spotted as AI content does not help to get people from the outside here thinking this is an alternative or better option for their social content stuff.
So - now stopping my rant (well was not only ranting - also had positive opinions I think :-).
why does this always have to ba an hour long discussion
just wanted to tell my stupid feelings lol - however knowing no one interested - thx mate
you can still share on those and then just reply with an embed yourself to the post or snap section of posh since the former might be hard for us to find
That is what I tried here with my "first" good share :-)
Alright, even tough snaps are getting kinda spammed as of now 🫤
That's merely a beginning
Good view numbers from that post on ecency UI :-) - over 6k
Thank you for this info. got me wondering where this originated too. !BBH
Very interesting. I find the fur trading system in the early days pretty interesting ever since I watched the show Frontier on Netflix. Obviously, I know it was dramatized and sensationalized for modern audiences, but the idea of just how vast and complex the networks were is amazing.
Wow thanks so much for sharing, I never knew but now that I do, I can totally see why!
How interesting that you teach American Culture, @dbooster!
!BBH
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