FW: Billion and other internationalization items (was Appendixes vs. Annexes)

[Mark Overton <Mark -dot- Overton -at- Sedgemoor -dot- gov -dot- uk>]

Just to nitpick...that's the Guardian's view of style usage, which is not
necessarily correct (insofar as anything is 'correct',  per se). During the
1980s the Guardian was so notorious for inaccuracies in its printing that it
was nicknamed "the Grauniad".

A quick check of the web
(http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxbill00.html) gives one example
statistic, in that Parliament adopted the US billion in 1974; however, the
self-same web page also notes that "the US meaning is still rare outside
journalism and finance, its introduction having served merely to cause
confusion" (I didn't write this!). Apparently, South Africa, Australia and
New Zealand still stick to the original British usage, too. 

As the web page observes, in many cases people avoid the term altogether
because of this current state of confusion. My take on it would be that you
need to explain which you're using up-front and then stick to it (the usual
tech authoring mantra of 'consistency, consistency...'), though for the
record it seems more logical to me that a thousand thousand is a million, so
a million million ought to be a billion (hehe). As long as the reader knows
what you mean, it's fine.

By the way, I resent that "some *older* people may still be slightly
confused", on the grounds that I'm 26. :-)

-mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Gooch [mailto:chris -dot- gooch -at- lightworkdesign -dot- com]
Sent: 17 May 2002 11:22
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Billion and other internationalization items (was
Appendixes vs. Annexes)

Just a quick one - as I think the original poster hinted,
here in the UK a billion is 10 to the 9, i.e., one
thousand million, 10 to the 12 is trillion, etc.

It's true that Britain used to have billion as 10 to the 12,
or a million million, but that hasn't been the case for
some 30 years or so now.

Some older people may still be slightly confused
but really all the people that have to talk about
billions (scientists, chancellors of the exchequer,
international bankers, anyone planning to buy a house
in London :-) , etc) knows that billion is a thousand million.

So if you're an american writing for a british audience,
don't attempt to convert to "british billions" as it will
confuse us...

You can check such british usage things here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide
(thanks to Jane Carnall for pointing me to this some
time ago)

Mark Overton
IT Projects Officer
Sedgemoor District Council
Bridgwater House, King Square
Bridgwater
Somerset TA6 3AR

Direct line (01278) 436409. 

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