Trivia
Hard“Buck”, The Common Slang Term For U.S. Dollars, Originated With Which Of These Industries?

Answer: Trapping
If you ever pondered how the slang for a U.S. dollar, a “buck”, is related to the word we use for male deer, you’ll be pleased to see just how on track you were with that line of thinking. Unlike many words where the etymology is murky at best or entirely unknowable, the etymology of buck as a slang term is clear cut.
Early on in American history, before there was even a United States let alone the modern dollar, early settlers, fur traders, and trappers were using the full skin of a buck as a unit of currency. As early as the 17th century, there are examples of people referring to purchasing power in terms of “bucks”, as in “two bucks for a wool blanket” or two buck skins in barter for the product.
Later on in the 19th century, the value of a single buck skin became fixed to the value of a U.S. dollar. In 1851, historian Henry Howe recorded the exchange rate of skins in the trapping trade:
A muskrat skin was equal to a quarter of a dollar; a raccoon skin, a third of a dollar; a doe skin, half a dollar, and a buck skin, “the almighty dollar.”
While the other terms never caught on—no child standing in a 1950s soda shop ever exclaimed, “A whole muskrat for a bag of licorice! What a rip off!”—the use of the term buck in place of dollar certainly did, and long after people were trading male deer pelts for goods and services, the slang lives on.
Trivia
HardWhich Super Hero Movie Went Into Production Without A Full Script?
Trivia
HardWhat Did 19th Century Japanese Aristocrats Dye Black As A Status Symbol?
Trivia
HardWhat Is the Best Selling Video Game Console Of All Time?
Trivia
Very HardUp To One Fifth Of The Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreaks In England Were Linked To?
Trivia
HardAn Outbreak In Which Multiplayer Video Game Attracted the Attention of Epidemiologists?
Trivia
HardA Group Of Off-The-Shelf Computers Run In Parallel As A Super Computer Is Called A?
Trivia
HardNASA Was Created Under Which U.S. President?
Trivia
HardThe Term “Geek” Originally Referred To?
Trivia
HardThe Most Geographically Isolated Group Of Islands On Earth Is?
Trivia
HardWho Was Fox Contractually Obligated To Offer The Role Of John McClain In Die Hard To?