Subject:
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Re: Space Shuttle Costs
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Tue, 15 Dec 1998 20:07:46 GMT
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Original-From:
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Ben Laurie <BEN@ALGROUP.CO.UKavoidspam>
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Viewed:
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1300 times
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Pete Hardie wrote:
>
> Nick Taylor wrote:
> >
> > Dear Mr. Rawding - - -
> > To _most_ speakers of English 'five billion' does _not_ equal
> > 5,000,000,000.
>
> Can you point out some statistics that support this - I know that the
> British hold this view, but I wonder about Canadians, Aussies, Indians,
> etc.
Actually, although the British hold this view, Her Majesty's Government
sold out and declared a billion to be a thousand million. As a result,
I've boycotted the term :-) A trillion was even more radically devalued.
Oh, and for the person who asked, a billion was a million million, and a
trillion was a million billion.
> > Comments such as yours are what has given
> > rise to the "Ugly American" syndrome.
>
> Hey, it's our shuttle.
"Was", you mean, until you blew it up :-)
> and, BTW, 'Ugly American' syndrome is much more than simple word stuff,
> or should I ask the British where the 'f' in lieutenant is?
That's actually a Victorian joke. If you write lieutenant in Greek, then
the eu is the same as the combination of letters in eukaristo which is
pronounced efkaristo. Dead witty, eh? The same sense of humour is
responsible for tandem (as in the bicycle) which is Latin for "at
length". No, no, stop, you Victorian wags, you're killing me...
Cheers,
Ben.
--
Ben Laurie |Phone: +44 (181) 735 0686| Apache Group member
Freelance Consultant |Fax: +44 (181) 735 0689|http://www.apache.org/
and Technical Director|Email: ben@algroup.co.uk |
A.L. Digital Ltd, |Apache-SSL author http://www.apache-ssl.org/
London, England. |"Apache: TDG" http://www.ora.com/catalog/apache/
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Space Shuttle Costs
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| (...) That makes no sense--a trillion should be a billion billion. This is the what happens when you don't let the US take care of things. Steve (26 years ago, 16-Dec-98, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Space Shuttle Costs
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| (...) Can you point out some statistics that support this - I know that the British hold this view, but I wonder about Canadians, Aussies, Indians, etc. (...) Hey, it's our shuttle. and, BTW, 'Ugly American' syndrome is much more than simple word (...) (26 years ago, 15-Dec-98, to lugnet.robotics)
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