It's also more importantly half of the name of the currency we're dealing with. The name is "bit"-coin. It always seems like people conveniently forget to mention that the name of the proposed new term is IN THE NAME OF THE ACTUAL COIN!
Which is why some new users assume 1bit==1Bitcoin.
And "old" ones like me, who never saw this "bits" term before it was debated on BCT. How many bitches are in a bitchcoin?