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[–] 17 points 6 months ago (21 children)

What about that shitload of money his buddy trump gave him? Wasn't that 40 billion?

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  • [+] -20 points 6 months ago (17 children)

    you are using the word billion incorrectly, a billion is a million million, and it was 20 thousand millons, not 40.

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago* (12 children)

    That's the British usage of the word. Possibly elsewhere, but when the US uses that word we refer to 1000 × a million. Still entirely uncertain as to how that linguistic difference came about.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago* (3 children)

    In Canada we see US billion sometimes. It gets confusing.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

    For which use case? Is the billion = a million million standard, or is the thousand million standard?

    Also how did we end up with two standards of such a basic numerical name?

    Edit: their original comment read "Non-English Anglosphere," hence my first question not making much sense any more.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago* (1 child)

    English->English

    French->American

    Due to US market size, theirs is becoming more standard.

    Like metric, the US swapped to the French version because of their hate of the British following the split.

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  • [+] 3 points 6 months ago (6 children)
  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago* (5 children)

    We spell that word aluminum, not aluminium. That's why we pronounce it that way. Why we spell it differently? No clue.

    Also it's not just a billion. A trillion is a thousand billion on this side of the pond, and has been since well before any Americans were even close to being billionaires. We just use a smaller standard for counting, but that's also the standard French and Latin used, so I don't think it has anything to do with us.

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  • [+] 4 points 6 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago*

    Ok, I can see that. There are a couple of State Capitol Buildings whose domes are covered in Aluminum Leaf, which would now be called aluminum foil, and I have square yards of the stuff in my kitchen and garage. At the time they were built aluminum was still difficult to get, less than two decades after they were built electrolysis guy did his thing, lol.

    I knew that at one point King Louis the somethingth or other, had a full set of aluminumware to serve extremely important guests with. Like, not just cutlery. Plates, saucers, bowls, cups and goblets. The less distinguished guests had to eat and drink out of platinum, gold, or (gasp) silver.

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  • [–] 0 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Nobody thinks aluminum is a rare and valuable metal.

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