Re: CHAT: Measurements (was: Re: CHAT: browsers)

Andreas Johansson wrote:
> Last I checked, Maggel didn't have very many speakers, so few people'll be
> confused to to the Maggel usage.
Well, I'll be. I think that's a bigger problem that needs rectification
before we try replacing 'ten thousand' with 'myriad'. Of course, there's
always the problem that people will be confused by 'a myriad of ways'
(the most common meaning and perhaps the only current meaning) and 'a
myriad ways'.

> If we want to reduce maggelity as regards
> large numbers, we should start by forcing the Americans with ilk to use
> "billion", "trillion" etc in their proper meanings.
I suggest banning them. I rarely use them. If I mean a thousand million,
I say a thousand million. If I mean a million million, I say a million
million. It means you have to be a bit more careful, but it's easier to
read out 102 293 848 483 284 592 184 856 (umm... thousand, million,
billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, what comes after
quintillion..? sestillion?... so... one hundred and two sestillion, two
hundred and etc... is rather a complex way of doing it), and gives you a
better impression of of how big the number is. I got this of my years
9/10 Science teacher.

Tristan.

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