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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010Arse about face numbers
"millions of thousands of Britons" Is this legit now? Technically correct, I suppose. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7043822/Households- face-1000-fines-from-officials-with-police-powers-if-they-refuse-to-fill- in-their-census-forms.html>  SignaturePablo > "millions of thousands of Britons" > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > face-1000-fines-from-officials-with-police-powers-if-they-refuse-to-fill- > in-their-census-forms.html> Perhaps it's in response to the confusing change in meaning of "billions". "millions of millions" = old billions "thousands of millions" = new (AmE) billions thus leaving everyone so confused that a new term is needed for 10^9. SignaturePeter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org For an e-mail address, see my web page. >> "millions of thousands of Britons" >> [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > "thousands of millions" = new (AmE) billions > thus leaving everyone so confused that a new term is needed for 10^9. I think it's just an editing mistake. Maybe somebody wanted to change "hundreds of thousands" to "millions" and forgot to delete the "of thousands". SignatureJames >> "millions of thousands of Britons" >> [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > "thousands of millions" = new (AmE) billions > thus leaving everyone so confused that a new term is needed for 10^9. Giga + ? >> "millions of thousands of Britons" >> [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > "thousands of millions" = new (AmE) billions >thus leaving everyone so confused that a new term is needed for 10^9. We've had "milliard" for 40 years, but it hasn't been used very much. SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk Steve Hayes filted: >> "millions of millions" = old billions >> "thousands of millions" = new (AmE) billions >>thus leaving everyone so confused that a new term is needed for 10^9. > >We've had "milliard" for 40 years, but it hasn't been used very much. Ran across something a couple of evenings ago that made me wonder if it was ever used in an ordinal context...would a really large company ever plan a big celebration for its "milliardth" customer?...r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? > >> "millions of thousands of Britons" > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > We've had "milliard" for 40 years, but it hasn't been used very much. Is this commonly used in the UK or elsewhere? I've heard the definition of milliard = American billion = 10^9 many times when discussing the difference between AmE and BrE, but I've had many English and Scottish friends and I've never once heard any of them use the word "milliard". Certainly the vast majority of my conversation have been with them after they have either lived in the US or visited (and conversed with) Americans for years, so I'm not at all claiming that "milliard" is purely an (archaic?) book/dictionary term. I'm just wondering if those of you in uncorrupted BrE or former Commonwealth areas have either heard it used or used it yourselves in modern times or not, and if so how prevalent it is. Likewise, is "billion" commonly used, and if so what meaning does it have in the modern UK/Ireland/Australia/NZ/South Africa/etc? The above description of AmE billions as "new billions" leads me to believe that current British usage *might* have billion=10^9, but I'm not sure if that's a correct impression, and if so I'm not sure if billion is now fairly unambiguously the AmE billion or if it's merely drifting that way but still fairly likely to be interpreted differently overseas--I guess I'm interested both in whether the AmE sense of billion is prevalent in general, and whether it's prevalent in some generation (e.g. the under 50 crowd, or the under 30 crowd, or whatever), and if not is billion unambiguously understood to mean "million million" (aka the American trillion) by all or some of those sets. >>>> "millions of thousands of Britons" >>>> Is this legit now? Technically correct, I suppose. [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > "million million" (aka the American trillion) by all or some of those > sets. Billion as 10^9 is now commonly accepted in Australia. Milliard is a word I have never (or very rarely) heard (or seen) used in Australia. SignatureLong-time resident of Adelaide, South Australia, which may or may not influence my opinions. >> We've had "milliard" for 40 years, but it hasn't been used very much. > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >Commonwealth areas have either heard it used or used it yourselves in >modern times or not, and if so how prevalent it is. In our case it was introduced by our Metrication Board as one ofn the things we would have to use along with litres, metres, and hectares. Afrikaans newspapers, being from a culture that was more submissive to authority, immediately adopted "miljard", but English newspapers did not seem to take to it quite so readily, and I haven't seen it for a long time, but it's there if anyone wants to use it, and, unlike "billion", it's unambiguous. >Likewise, is "billion" commonly used, and if so what meaning does it >have in the modern UK/Ireland/Australia/NZ/South Africa/etc? The [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >"million million" (aka the American trillion) by all or some of those >sets. SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk > "millions of thousands of Britons" > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > face-1000-fines-from-officials-with-police-powers-if-they-refuse-to-fill- > in-their-census-forms.html> This seems not news. An increasing number of people in Western countries dislike census forms, governments respond by increasing powers to compel compliance, and just as likely cannot steel themselves to use those powers. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > This seems not news. An increasing number of people > in Western countries dislike census forms, governments [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Carlsbad Springs > (Ottawa, Canada) Would those people number in the millions of thousands, then? pdpi filted: >> This seems not news. =A0 An increasing number of people >> in Western countries dislike census forms, governments >> respond by increasing powers to compel compliance, >> and just as likely cannot steel themselves to use those powers. > >Would those people number in the millions of thousands, then? It's half of one, six dozen of the other....r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? >"millions of thousands of Britons" That seems to have been corrected. It now says: However there is a growing concern that the next census, on 27 March, might be ignored by millions of Britons. >Is this legit now? Technically correct, I suppose. > ><http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7043822/Households- >face-1000-fines-from-officials-with-police-powers-if-they-refuse-to-fill- >in-their-census-forms.html> SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >"millions of thousands of Britons" > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >face-1000-fines-from-officials-with-police-powers-if-they-refuse-to-fill- >in-their-census-forms.html> Since there aren't even one million thousand Britons, it must be a mistake. SignatureJohn Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:52:09 -0600 from John O'Flaherty <quiasmox@yeeha.com>: > >"millions of thousands of Britons" > > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Since there aren't even one million thousand Britons, it must be a > mistake. There are, it's just that they haven't been counted because they ignore the census forms. :-) SignatureStan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... |
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