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In a play, a girl finds some stolen treasure and divides it among her friends. I ask for an expression which is used to describe this heroine that wants to share with her friends.

Within the dialog she says, "Go halves!" But we feel we need a more common colloquial expression or word. The girl is supposed to be young so an expression which kids use would be preferred. However, the roles are played by adults and the scene symbolizes much more, so a "kid expression" is not totally necessary.

Right now, I can only think of "chop the pot," but that expression is inappropriate. It isn't exactly an expression for teenage girls. Others I know are: "split the pot," "split it up," "Divvy!", "chop the pot," "Divvy up!" and "Sharing is caring!"

What is an expression or word to "distribute something equally"?

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    Halves implies there are two people total. How many are there really? (since you say among her friends [plural]) Also, "Go halves" sounds somehow like someone else is controlling the treasure and your girl feels cheated. If she really found it and currently controls it and she wants to be fair, she might say, "I think we should all [split it]/[share it]"
    – Jim
    Sep 2, 2015 at 4:26
  • Split it evenly, friends!
    – Eilia
    Sep 2, 2015 at 5:51
  • @ Jim yes you are correct! There will be 7 other actors to split it with and I am looking for a common expression a young teenager would say in this situation. In this light "go halves" and all the expressions I have put up I feel are inappropriate, so I am looking for more expressions or words. Sep 2, 2015 at 10:44
  • If you want a kid expression, ask a kid.
    – Hot Licks
    Sep 2, 2015 at 12:34

2 Answers 2

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I think something colloquial, informal, and young would be to say let's go halfsies.

From dictionary.com, halfsies is informal for go halves:

--> to share equally; divide evenly.

I think given the informality of it, and with a child saying it, it works regardless of the fact that something is split between more than two people.

I know I myself (not a child, in my 20's) have said something like 'let's all just go halfsies' when talking about splitting a check or dividing a pizza amongst more than 2 friends.

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  • This was what I would have said too, only I spell it halvesies. For me (grew up in Maryland), it has a V and a Z sound. Sep 3, 2015 at 1:57
  • I cannot upvote using halves to describe equal proportions to more than two. TFD defines go halves more the way I expect.
    – jxh
    Sep 3, 2015 at 2:08
  • @aparente001 I had never written it before, and was surprised to see it spelled with an 'f'. I pronounce it halvesies as well and had just assumed that was how it was spelled.
    – jdf
    Sep 3, 2015 at 16:21
  • @jxh - I think in some ways that fact that it doesn't totally make sense, (I agree, halves implies division into only 2 parts) makes it even more childlike slang that could be used. Especially since there aren't a good selection of slang words for dividing something out into more than two, which is something that commonly occurs. Maybe splitsies would be more fitting if you can't get on board with halfsies. To me that is slightly less common than halfsies but still works well in this case.
    – jdf
    Sep 3, 2015 at 16:28
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You could try even steven[s]. Although it may be old fashioned, the use of rhyme sounds like something a child may say.

even stevens

(British informal) also even steven (American & Australian informal)
if two or more people are even stevens, they have the same amount of something or are at the same level
Give me £20 and we're even stevens - I'm not worried about a few pence.
The Free Dictionary by Farlex

There is a longer expression, share and share alike, which has a meaning that is more literally what you specified, but I personally like even steven better:

share and share alike

Mete out or partake of something equally, as in
Mom told the children to share and share alike with their Halloween candy.
The Free Dictionary by Farlex

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  • Yeah, "even steven" in the US, and I haven't heard this one in decades.
    – Hot Licks
    Sep 2, 2015 at 12:35
  • @ jxh thanks! Although, when I heard "even steven" used many years ago I felt it had a slight connotation of something like "settling a score." books.google.com/… Sep 2, 2015 at 13:31
  • @MovieScriptGuy: Yes, the desired state after splitting the treasure is that everyone thinks it is even steven. So, a usage could be "Let's split it even steven!".
    – jxh
    Sep 3, 2015 at 23:47

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