Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  In the US & Canada, one billion = one thousand million.

AH>  In the UK & Germany, one billion is (or once was) one 
AH>  million million according to my sources.

ak>  In Russia the same, BTW. :)

    
           And I suspect in various other countries across the pond....  :-)



AH>  OTOH they seem divided as to whether or not Brits use 
AH>  "milliard" to mean one thousand million nowadays in much 
AH>  the same way a lot of physicists from continental Europe 
AH>  evidently do.

ak>  We use "milliard" in Russia. American billionaires are 
ak>  milliarders for us. 

    
           There's a word I didn't know.  If we can say "Baby Boomers" I see nothing wrong with it.  Thank you for the addition to my vocabulary....  :-)



AH>  Some appear to believe the latter is no longer in 
AH>  technical &/or common use within the UK... and according 
AH>  to plainenglish.co.uk the government there has followed 
AH>  the American convention since 1974.  I've noticed similar 
AH>  trends WRT various other things as well.

ak>  BTW, there is no word "milliard" in the British Longman 
ak>  dictionary. 


           It's listed in my CANADIAN OXFORD DICTIONARY, which was meant for international use.  But things are changing quickly in the UK nowadays.  :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+