maffew
Well-known member
The US changed it to 1000 million so it could say it has the most billionaires and hoped no one would notice
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[Misc] One billion
- Thread starter Simster
- Start date
OT - Another bit of standardization, sorry standardisation was that apparently in printing 'Font' is an American term, the British term was 'Fount'.
Only got my Mum's word for that, so don't put it down as a Mastermind answer or anything,.
Only got my Mum's word for that, so don't put it down as a Mastermind answer or anything,.
brakespear
Doctor Worm
I thought it was a million million too, although it seems to have shifted to a thousand million.
edit: seen all the other answers now so I guess it did change although I remember it later than 1974, I guess it probably took a while to percolate down.
I might have prompted the question on the ‘singing because I’m rich’ thread........still get a few confused people but as other have said we all fell into line with the US years ago. It was always a million million when I was a kid though.
maffew
Well-known member
So how much is a thousand million billion trillion?
seagulls4ever
New member
- Oct 2, 2003
- 4,338
10[SUP]30[/SUP] (a nonillion)
maffew
Well-known member
DavePage
Well-known member
Used to be able to get Billion Dollar Babies, back in the day
maffew
Well-known member
indeed and a 6 billion dollar man
American PINTS can f*** off too. I always feel cheated when they give me 473ml instead of 568ml.
Whilst we're on the subject, selling liquids in WEIGHT. Ridiculous concept. I'll have 14oz of coffee, and can I have litre of cake too please?
Blimey, that's inflation. In the original (with Lee Majors) it was the Six MILLION dollar man. Probably just enough to buy you a bionic big toe now.
maffew
Well-known member
Doh my bad.
I think I was getting it mixed up as it is back on after Who Wants to be a Billionaire
Indeed. As we have with car engine sizes. Even the most patriotic of us, when asked what size our car engine is, will reply "Two litre" for example. Nobody would ever dream of saying "Three and a half pint"
Barham's tash
Well-known member
Not as bad as the Aussies though - wtf is a Schooner or a Cup? One I thought was a boat and the other Features prominently in a video with two girls. Bloody idiots.
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It has a ridiculous name, but at least a schooner doesn't pretend to be a pint. I actually think it's a good measure of beer to have on a baking hot Australian day. A pint just gets warm by the time you reach the bottom. Unless you neck it of course.
thony
Active member
The original "logic" of the numbering was that the prefix referred to the power of one-million, which is the same as the number of six-zero groupings.
Million = 10^6 = 1,000,000
Billion = (10^6)^2 = 10^(6*2) = 1,000,000,000,000
Trillion = 10^(6*3) = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
Quadrillion = 10^(6*4)
Quintillion = 10^(6*5)
...etc
Million = 10^6 = 1,000,000
Billion = (10^6)^2 = 10^(6*2) = 1,000,000,000,000
Trillion = 10^(6*3) = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
Quadrillion = 10^(6*4)
Quintillion = 10^(6*5)
...etc
And long may it continue!
Although - does anybody know? - outside the UK are cricket pitches still 22 yards, or are they 20 metres?
- Jan 3, 2012
- 17,356
When I were a lad still at school - i.e. through the sixties - a billion was indeed a million million. Don't know when it changed, or whether it just happened over time that we moved in to the Americanism.....
I was replying to the subsequent posters, not you.
- Jan 3, 2012
- 17,356
Sounds a bit like the American who bought London Bridge who allegedly thought he was buying Tower Bridge........ two peoples divided by a common language.