This is one of those things people knew 30 years ago, but less and less now: TikTok’s new obsession-of-the-day is the “shave and a haircut” knock, and the fact that it has that NAME.
A TikToker in England was watching Netflix with subtitles on when someone knocked on a door, and the subtitles said it was the “shave and a haircut knock.”
He knew the knock itself, but not the name or the song that goes with it. So he had to look it up. He posted a video about what a weird name it is, and what the “two bits” part at the end means. It was an old-timey term for a quarter.
A bunch of people in the comments didn’t know either, and not just young people. A few folks in their 50s had no idea.
If you were a kid in 1988, you might know it from the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” There’s a whole scene about how the “toon” characters can’t resist singing “two bits” if you do the knock.
For everyone who DID know, here’s a bonus fact: In England, they don’t sing “two bits”, they sing “five bobs,” which used to mean “five shillings.”
(Here’s the TikTok video. Warning! There’s an F-bomb at 1:08.)
@calumdilieto MIND BLOWN 🤯 #knockknock #mindblown #thingsididntknow #shaveandahaircut #shaveandahaircuttwobits #shaveandahaircutknock
