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american english - Is it safe to use the British standard for numbering in a novel with a worldwide audience?





Billion and other large numbers



Where I am from (Barbados) I grew up knowing a Billion to = 1000 000 000 000, not 1000 000 000, and it was some years before I learned to use both. Unfortunately, cultural penetration by American standards and culture means that many of our children use the American standard, while some of us (like me at 23, and most people older than myself) are stuck with a mind that thinks in the British standard.


With that preamble out of the way, I am wondering which standard I should use for a novel (which I am writing). Personally I prefer to use the British standard (because that is what I am accustomed to, and it is troubling to use the American standard). However, I don't want to run into problems, so what should I do?


Is it enough to simply put a disclaimer (using an asterisk and pointing out why)?



Answer



Sorry if this disappoints you, but we British have now abandoned the 'million million' billion. We now use the American billion (one thousand million) and American trillion (one million million).



In British English, a billion used to be equivalent to a million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000), while in American English it has always equated to a thousand million (i.e. 1,000,000,000). British English has now adopted the American figure, though, so that a billion equals a thousand million in both varieties of English.


The same sort of change has taken place with the meaning of trillion. In British English, a trillion used to mean a million million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000). Nowadays, it's generally held to be equivalent to a million million (1,000,000,000,000), as it is in American English.



How many is a billion?


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