Comments on: Pelosi Says The GOP is Superfluous. She’ll Pass the Budget As-Is.

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:43:21 +0000

I like the idea of bringing the milliard back into common use. It's a perfectly cromulent word!

By: Mr. Science Guy

Mr. Science Guy — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:49:17 +0000

The British equivalent of the American billion (one thousand million or 1,000,000,000) is a milliard. Though I'm not sure the term is still in common use.

By: Steve Spinks

Steve Spinks — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:56:17 +0000

Not just in deference to them, but so that the average Joe (or Josephine) could get part of his/her brain around the size of the number!

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:24:39 +0000

I don't know if he still does it, but G. Gordon Liddy, on his radio show, would replace "billion" in the news stories he read with "thousand million" in deference to international listeners.

By: suek

suek — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:37:18 +0000

>>The American trillion is the same as the British billion: One million million, or 1,000,000,000,000.>>

Really. That's definitely odd. So…what would an Brit call an American billion? You'd think at least our number terminology would be the same…

Years ago, I had a discussion with a German woman about a "pfund". She said it was 500 grams, I said it was 454 grams. After going through mental contortions about how a pound could weigh more in Germany than it did in the US, the obvious answer struck me – we translated "pound" as "pfund", but a pound is a pound and a pfund is a pfund. They may be linguistically the same but the numbers just simply don't equate. That kind of misunderstanding in the basics of information gathering can lead to massive problems!!

By: Mr. Science Guy

Mr. Science Guy — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:21:17 +0000

One thousand trillion is indeed a quadrillion. But in deference to international readers, English-speaking countries don't all count above millions the same way. The American trillion is the same as the British billion: One million million, or 1,000,000,000,000.

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:04:08 +0000

Geez. You're right. Consider that corrected. Don't know how I goofed on that number.

Our new project is to find out what comes after "trillion". I think it's quadrillion, but I'm only making an educated guess.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:41:51 +0000

Trillion. 3.6 trillion. Not billion, trillion. Might as well start calling it a "squintoodle" because that is just as easily comprehended as a trillion.