[plug] billion (was Unix Epoch: 1 billion seconds breakfast function.)

[John Knight]

I am more than aware of the evil US Empire but it escapes me how US 
influence can change a number but not a word like "colour". One would think 
that television hasn't been around long enough for such a drastic change but 
even older (fiftyish) people are using the US definition.

>
>On Mon, 03 Sep 2001, Colin Muller wrote:
> > On Mon, Sep 03, 2001 at 11:51:33AM +0800, John Knight wrote:
> > > Time for my usual rant of pedantry, but would this be an English or an
> > > American billion? I've always been quite puzzled by this as according 
>to the
> > > dictionary, a billion is 10 to the power of 12 (a million millions) 
>unless
> > > you live in America or France where it is 10 to the power of 9 (a 
>thousand
> > > millions).
> > >
> > > Why does everyone use the US billion even if modern dictionaries say 
>that
> > > it's 10 to the power of 12? I'm not trying to point out an error, this 
>has
> > > simply been puzzling me for years.
> >
> > If the dictionaries don't reflect general usage, then the dictionaries
> > are broken - not the people.
> >
> > Colin
>
>The dictionaries merely state what the words are and what they mean. If 
>people
>misuse the words, it is the people that are the problem ("Exterminate!
>Exterminate!").
>
>Interestingly, the origin of the word billion, is from the french (Concise
>Oxford Dictionary, Shorter Oxford Dictionary), and billion means million
>million (use of the prefix bi- ), but, as mentioned in the Shorter Oxford,
>"2. In U.S. (as in France, where the system of numeration is based on 
>groups of
>threes, not groups of sixes): A thousand millions"
>So, the problem stems from the french, who cannot count past three.
>
>As for most of the world using the incorrect version of billion,meaning
>actually thousand million, you must remember, we are part of the evil 
>empire;
>the worl is run by the USA...  Be scared, be very scared... We are all 
>subjects
>of the USA empire...
>
>Bret Busby
>..........
>


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