1 million versus 1 billion
 

It's one of those days when I'm drifting through the web with no place to go. Inevitably I end up on reddit.
Someone helpfully (?) indicated the difference between 1 million and 1 billion since the numbers can be hard to visualise.
1 million seconds is approximately 11.5 days
1 billion seconds is approximately 31.5 years

In my head, 1 billion was a bit more than 1 million...yes, I know the numbers but a billionaire seemed just a bit richer than a millionaire. There are 2200 billionaires on the planet. Mind blown.

Re: 1 million versus 1 billion
 

To me a billion is a million times a million. But to Americans and all our news programmes, papers ect it a 1000 million.

Re: 1 million versus 1 billion
 

now lets look at something very scary

£1,800,000,000,000 in seconds to repay the national debt not including interest =
@ £1 a second = £86,400 a day, 47,564.7 years
@ £10 a second = £864,000 a day, 4756.47 years
@ £100 a second = £8,640,000 a day, 475.647 years

now the interest alone =
@ 1/4% the interest on 1.8 trillion is 4,500,000,000 a year
our monthly repayments are £375,000,000

all assuming my calculations are correct.

every single person of the 66.57 million people in the UK has a theoretical debt of £27,000 each

Re: 1 million versus 1 billion
 

Ooh! a fellow pedant. I suspect Seeker is old like me and had a proper education.

Re: 1 million versus 1 billion
 

guilty.


I wouldn't go that far.


I can overlook it's/its and their/there but ect irritates me.

On the pedantry subject - I used to be punished at school for pronouncing the letter "H" as haitch instead of aitch. Apparently haitch is now widely accepted but it makes me cringe.

Re: 1 million versus 1 billion
 

I upset a mate who was taking the P out of my pronunciation of garage. As in garaarge, where he says it is garige.


His comment was, "you wouldn't call a fridge a frage". "No I would call it a refrigerator", at which point he called me a rude name and stormed out of the pub. There is nothing wrong with a regional accent, but I hate poor pronunciation. Worst locally is the use of the word buzz when they refer to a bus.

Re: 1 million versus 1 billion
 

Ha. Get down to Bristol, you'll love it... or Brizzle as I should say.

Re: 1 million versus 1 billion
 

Its like the age old feud on BBC how to pronounce Shrewsbury, some say Shrowsbury, I just say 'well how do you pronounce Shrew ( the furry little mammal with the long nose) is it a Shrow ? Some Shruesbury ( more like it) and the locals just say Shoesbry.

It is like scon or scone, if you say scon you should also stay ston instead of stone, no wonder English language is so hard to foreigners to grasp, although most do speak it better than wot we do.

Re: 1 million versus 1 billion
 

Innit

Re: 1 million versus 1 billion
 

my irritation is people pronouncing an R where there are none. draRwing or bRought