# Why do (or did) people carry a $2 bill in their wallet. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814 "2005-10-05T01:27:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/1 "2005-10-05T01:27:34Z")
In [THIS](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6652330#post6652330) thread **FOLLY** claimed to carry a $2 bill around in their wallet. This sparked my memory. I recall as a kid older people carrying $2 bills around, usually hidden in their wallets, not where the other money was. Both my Ma & Pop did, my grandparents did, and I know the mother of my [childhood] best friend did. Was there any reason to this? A superstition maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/2 "2005-10-05T01:32:36Z")
There is a superstition about empty wallets. My mother, for example, when she gives a wallet as a gift always puts at least $1 in it because she’s semi-superstitious (though more traditional than superstitious). I’d guess it’s a blend of the superstition and the novelty of $2 bills. Now if it’s a $3 bill, you’re probably in MidTown Atlanta and it’s a form of advertising. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@MC\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_E)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/3 "2005-10-05T01:32:37Z")
I was told it was so I would never be broke. But then again, that would work with any denomination. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/4 "2005-10-05T01:32:45Z")
I have carried around a 2 dollar bill on occasion. This was mostly due to the fact that I save them when a cashier gives me one, and I forget to take it out of the wallet. Sometimes I would use it for emergency use. Like if I was feeling particularly parched and there wasn’t an ATM nearby. No superstition that I am aware of, but that doesn’t mean anything. ---
**Author:** ![TBone82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@TBone82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBone82)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/5 "2005-10-05T01:38:36Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > In [THIS](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6652330#post6652330) > thread **FOLLY** claimed to carry a $2 bill around in their wallet. This sparked my memory. I recall as a kid older people carrying $2 bills around, usually hidden in their wallets, not where the other money was. Both my Ma & Pop did, my grandparents did, and I know the mother of my [childhood] best friend did. Was there any reason to this? A superstition maybe? Hey, this is a little off the track of your question, but I do know that when I worked at O’Hare as a passenger screener, many vacationers that were headed someplace tropical took many $2 bills with them to hand out as tips, because they heard the locals thought it was good luck, as well as an appropriate tip for most things. TBone82 ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/6 "2005-10-05T01:46:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Now if it’s a $3 bill, you’re probably in MidTown Atlanta and it’s a form of advertising. I thought that was Kansas. Where they did in fact issue a state monetary unit in that amount, with William Burroughs on it (and traditional saying applying). ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/7 "2005-10-05T02:06:14Z")
$2 bills were always popular at the horse races, a basic bet was $2. Horses = horseshoes = luck? ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/8 "2005-10-05T02:34:30Z")
I try to avoid having a empty wallet, but sometimes its beyond my control. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/9 "2005-10-05T02:38:08Z")
Except that my (religious) parents thought that a $2 bill was “bad luck.” And I think that a large segment of the general populace in the 1920’s-1950’s thought that way. Yes, $2 bills were handy at the race track. But my parents didn’t believe in gambling. So, anything associated with gamblers was bad. As a point of interest, many of the $2 bills we buy in our coin shop have at least one corner torn off. I saw my parents do this in the 1950’s. It was to break the spell of bad luck. I would say that out of every 1000 $2 bills we buy, perhaps 100 or more have at least one corner torn off. This does NOT apply to modern $2 notes, those from 1976 and later. I don’t think the tradition continued into the latter half of the 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/10 "2005-10-05T02:46:51Z")
Up until – maybe 10 years ago – we all carried $2 bills in our wallets. And then the “twonie” was introduced. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/11 "2005-10-05T02:48:33Z")
Harried and inattentive waitresses and cashiers might mistake it for a twenty. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/12 "2005-10-05T02:53:52Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Up until – maybe 10 years ago – we all carried $2 bills in our wallets. And then the “twonie” was introduced. Oh, I forgot to mention. Other countries have Internet access. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/13 "2005-10-05T02:54:05Z")
When I was working in Alaska (lo, these many years ago–during the pipeline thang) I was told that $2 was once the price of a cheap “date”\*and so giving a $2 bill to a woman, even as change, was an insult. Re: the OP, make of that what you will. - A hooker, ya bozos. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/14 "2005-10-05T03:00:45Z")
I carried a two dollar bill in my wallet until recently. It was made in 1995 and fell apart about two months ago. I never heard any superstition about them. It just seemed instinctual to carry it in why wallet. Spending it would both make me lose and oddity and possibly make me explain to some clerk that it was real. It think that is the problem. They have printed a lot of new $2 bills as recently as 2004. Where do those things get sent too for circulation? I got mine at Thomas Jefferson’s house, Monticello, and that makes sense but I have no idea who else wants a big batch of them. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/15 "2005-10-05T03:03:58Z")
Where can you get one? I read somewhere that they were “real” money; that is, redeemedable, unlike the “worthless” paper we have now. Legend? ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/16 "2005-10-05T03:09:35Z")
I can’t comment on the '50s, but these days if someone pays me in $2 bills, I can be pretty damned sure they were recently in a strip club. Any change you’re given for a purchase of a drink or whatever is in $2 bills rather than singles. I’m told that this is to force the customers to give the girls more money, or at least give it to them more quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/17 "2005-10-05T03:11:42Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > As a point of interest, many of the $2 bills we buy in our coin shop have at least one corner torn off. I saw my parents do this in the 1950’s. It was to break the spell of bad luck. What does a $2 bill go for these days? ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/18 "2005-10-05T03:15:35Z")
> [@Good Egg](#): > > Where can you get one? I read somewhere that they were “real” money; that is, redeemedable, unlike the “worthless” paper we have now. Legend? False. They’re federal reserve notes, just like other bills. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/19 "2005-10-05T03:19:41Z")
At one time having two dollars in your pocket meant something. > [@Hank Williams](#): > > I got a hot rod Ford and a two dollar bill > And I know a spot right over the hill > There’s soda pop and the dancin’ free > But if you wanna have fun > come along with me > > Hey good lookin’ what cha got cookin’ > How’s about cookin’ something up with me ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814/20 "2005-10-05T03:34:10Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > What does a $2 bill go for these days? They usually go for $29.95 a piece but I can get you them at 2 for $19.99. Act now. Quantities are limited (by the number of $2 bills that I can get at 10 for $20 from any bank). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-or-did-people-carry-a-2-bill-in-their-wallet/324814.md?page=2)