>>> Well, even if you try to be metric, the Americans have a different idea 
>>> about what constitutes a "billion"...
>>
>> Dude, you're so out of date, were you even born when the UK officially 
>> abandoned the idea that a million million is a billion?
>
> It's new to me that it was *ever* abandoned. (Why would you do such a 
> thing?)

To avoid confusion?  IIRC back in the 80s (or maybe even earlier) the UK 
officially stopped using "billion" to mean 1e12, and since then it has 
always meant 1e9.  Did you really think all those figures in the financial 
part of the paper that say $6bn mean $6000000000000 and not $6000000000?

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