6 ms·

Possibly confusion by someone who's used to the long scale? In Danish, as in most non-English European languages, the cognate of "billion" means trillion (10^12

Possibly confusion by someone who's used to the long scale? In Danish, as in most non-English European languages, the cognate of "billion" means trillion (10^12).

buboard 8y ago
> in most non-English European languages i dont think that's true
- LoSboccacc 8y ago
  https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilione https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilione
- Svip 8y ago
  > i dont think that's true Here is a handy list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Long_scale_users https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Long_sca...
  - buboard 8y ago
    weird. Greek is short, not "other"
    - scatters 8y ago
      The Greek system parallels the short scale, but the terms themselves are derived from the myriad system; δισεκατομμύριο disekatommýrio, 10^9, literally reads twice-hundred-myriad.
- rostigerpudel 8y ago
  Can confirm it's true for French and German: Million 10^6 Milliard(e) 10^9 Billion 10^12 Billiard(e) 10^15
- GeneralMayhem 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Long_scale_users https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Long_sca... The UK is the only place in Europe where "billion" means 10^9; in Eastern European languages, there simply isn't an equivalent word, and everywhere else it means 10^12.
  - leaveyou 8y ago
    in romanian it's like in French: million = milion, billion = miliard
  - viraptor 8y ago
    An equivalent word for what? Poland is an EE language and has milion, miliard, bilion, biliard, etc.
NeedMoreTea 8y ago
As it did in British English until, I guess, some time in the 80s or 90s after the Treasury decided to standardise on the US format (edit: apparently that was in 1975). Like with metrication us Brits adopted it slowly so there were many years of seeing either usage. This wasn't confusing at all. :)
- collyw 8y ago
  I think there is a mathematical definition and a financial definition of a "billion".
  - lotsofpulp 8y ago
    In the US, there is only one meaning for billion. Thousands (10^3), millions (10^6), billions (10^9), trillions (10^12), quadrillions (10^15), etc. And 99% of people would have never heard of milliard or billiard or any other -ard.
    - tasuki 8y ago
      No cue sports in the US?
      - lotsofpulp 8y ago
        Hah, I meant in the context of numbers.
z3t4 8y ago
In Sweden there's miljon ^6, miljard ^9, biljon ^12, biljard ^15 (also means pool table) and triljon ^18. I once had to ask if "milj" meant miljon or miljard and they refused to answer and said I should look it up in a dictionary. This was a government contract.
mikorym 8y ago
Afrikaans also uses the long system. "miljoen" -> "miljard" -> "biljoen" -> "biljard" -> "triljoen" ^6 -> ^9 -> ^12 -> ^15 -> ^18 However, a lot of Afrikaans-speaking people use the de facto English convention. The newspapers usually get it right though, in contrast to this article.

Possibly confusion by someone who's used to the long scale? In Danish, as in most non-English European languages, the cognate of "billion" means trillion (10^12).

buboard 8y ago

> in most non-English European languages i dont think that's true

LoSboccacc 8y ago
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilione https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilione
Svip 8y ago
> i dont think that's true Here is a handy list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Long_scale_users https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Long_sca...
- buboard 8y ago
  weird. Greek is short, not "other"
  - scatters 8y ago
    The Greek system parallels the short scale, but the terms themselves are derived from the myriad system; δισεκατομμύριο disekatommýrio, 10^9, literally reads twice-hundred-myriad.
rostigerpudel 8y ago
Can confirm it's true for French and German: Million 10^6 Milliard(e) 10^9 Billion 10^12 Billiard(e) 10^15
GeneralMayhem 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Long_scale_users https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#Long_sca... The UK is the only place in Europe where "billion" means 10^9; in Eastern European languages, there simply isn't an equivalent word, and everywhere else it means 10^12.
- leaveyou 8y ago
  in romanian it's like in French: million = milion, billion = miliard
- viraptor 8y ago
  An equivalent word for what? Poland is an EE language and has milion, miliard, bilion, biliard, etc.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago

As it did in British English until, I guess, some time in the 80s or 90s after the Treasury decided to standardise on the US format (edit: apparently that was in 1975). Like with metrication us Brits adopted it slowly so there were many years of seeing either usage. This wasn't confusing at all. :)

collyw 8y ago
I think there is a mathematical definition and a financial definition of a "billion".
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  In the US, there is only one meaning for billion. Thousands (10^3), millions (10^6), billions (10^9), trillions (10^12), quadrillions (10^15), etc. And 99% of people would have never heard of milliard or billiard or any other -ard.
  - tasuki 8y ago
    No cue sports in the US?
    - lotsofpulp 8y ago
      Hah, I meant in the context of numbers.

z3t4 8y ago

In Sweden there's miljon ^6, miljard ^9, biljon ^12, biljard ^15 (also means pool table) and triljon ^18. I once had to ask if "milj" meant miljon or miljard and they refused to answer and said I should look it up in a dictionary. This was a government contract.

mikorym 8y ago

Afrikaans also uses the long system. "miljoen" -> "miljard" -> "biljoen" -> "biljard" -> "triljoen" ^6 -> ^9 -> ^12 -> ^15 -> ^18 However, a lot of Afrikaans-speaking people use the de facto English convention. The newspapers usually get it right though, in contrast to this article.