Subject:
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RE: Space Shuttle Costs, Billions, Wordplay, Homely Yankees
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Tue, 15 Dec 1998 20:39:09 GMT
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Original-From:
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Tom Pierce <tomp@citrix.!saynotospam!com>
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Viewed:
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1343 times
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Useless clarification on the billion thing:
To Yanks, 'billion' means one thousand times a million (1,000,000,000) -- we
use what is commonly referred to as an erroneous system that used multiples
of a thousand rather than a million, as was originally planned. For this, we
have the French to thank. To Brits, it means one million times a million.
(1,000,000,000,000). They're using the 'proper' multiple of a million, for
which they also have the French to thank.
The French, to simply, refer to the U.S. billion as a 'milliard', to the
Brit billion as a 'billion'.
A U.S. trillion is a one followed by 12 zeros, while a Brit trillion is a
one followed by 18 zeros. The problem of different multiples, but
similar/exact words, extends all the way up to terms like vigintillion (120
zeros for UK, 63 zeros for US) and centillion (10^600 vs. 10^303).
Countries using the 'erroneous' system include the United States, Italy,
Russia, Turkey, Greece, and Brazil. France used it until 1924.
Pretty much everyone else -- even Spanish speakers in the U.S. -- use the
'correct' method, matching the UK. Still unsure on Canada/Australia, but I'd
suspect they use the million-multiple.
And, because I'm a devil's advocate, and picky is as picky does:
Nick Taylor wrote:
> To _most_ speakers of English 'five billion' does _not_ equal
> 5,000,000,000.
I'd like to ask where you get the statistic that _most_ English speakers use
British English. As of 1984 surveys, estimated breakdown of worldwide
English has 210,000,000 English language speakers in USA versus 322,000,000
worldwide -- about 65%. So we can safely assume that over 50% of worldwide
English speakers look upon five billion as being 5,000,000,000. <insert ugly
american dance here>
Nick Taylor wrote:
> Comments such as yours are what has given
> rise to the "Ugly American" syndrome.
And to what have comments such as yours given rise? We're not so ugly. Just
uppity.
-- Tom Pierce
-- tomp@citrix.removethisobviouspart.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Hardie [SMTP:pete.hardie@dvsg.sciatl.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 1998 1:51 pm
To: lego-robotics@crynwr.com
Subject: Re: Space Shuttle Costs
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.
> Comments such as yours are what has given
> rise to the "Ugly American" syndrome.
Hey, it's our shuttle.
and, BTW, 'Ugly American' syndrome is much more than simple word
stuff,
or should I ask the British where the 'f' in lieutenant is?
--
Pete Hardie | Goalie, DVSG Dart Team
Scientific Atlanta |
Digital Video Services Group |
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