$ 4000 million why not $4 billion

"The government spends some $ 4000 million a year.........."

Why not to say $ 4 billion?

I am not a teacher.

"Billion" in the US unequivocally means 1,000,000,000. In an international setting, though, "billion" is ambiguous. In British English, it can mean 1,000,000,000,000. If you say "thousand million" or "million million", you will be understood by everybody.

Coolfootluke said:

I am not a teacher.

"Billion" in the US unequivocally means 1,000,000,000. In an international setting, though, "billion" is ambiguous. In British English, it can mean 1,000,000,000,000. If you say "thousand million" or "million million", you will be understood by everybody.

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How does it read than "4 billion" or "4 million million"? I didn't even hear "milliard" from the British.

ostap77 said:

How does it read than "4 billion" or "4 million million"? I didn't even hear "milliard" from the British.

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"Milliarde" is German. They might say "milliarde" or "milliard" in other languages as well. In Iran we say "milliard". "Milliard" is not English as you know.

Khosro said:

Ofcourse you mean "4 tausand million". "Milliarde" is German. They might say "milliarde" or "milliard" in other languages as well. In Iran we say "milliard". "Milliard" is not English as you know.

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"Milliard" used to be used for one thousand million in BrE. It is 18th century French in origin. In modern French it means "million".

ostap77 said:

"The government spends some $ 4000 million a year.........."

Why not to say $ 4 billion?

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I'd say it's for emphasis rather than because of ambiguity.
Many people could relate better to 4000 million than to 4 billion. In fact, you sometimes hear, "The clean-up after the hurricane will cost 4 billion dollars ... that's 4,000 million dollars."

It may have been used to achieve greater precision. Even in contexts where 'billion' is accepted as meaning 'a thousand million' - as it is, increasingly in Br Eng (especially in economic and scientific contexts) '4 billion' means 'more than 3.5 billion and less than 4.4 billion' - I think (my maths is long past its sell-by date). A politician might use this to allow himself some statistical 'wiggle room'.

b

I think it could simply be that it sounds bigger in some way- it's a longer number to say and could carry more intonation if spoken or take up more reading time, so it could simply be used for effect.

PS I think that the British billion has pretty much disappeared- whenever I see the number I think of 1,000 million. In fact, the only times I ever see it mentioned are on discussions about it- I never see it used, though there may still be somee specialised areas that use it.

Tdol said:

I think it could simply be that it sounds bigger in some way- it's a longer number to say and could carry more intonation if spoken or take up more reading time, so it could simply be used for effect.

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:up: Good point.

Tdol said:

PS I think that the British billion has pretty much disappeared- whenever I see the number I think of 1,000 million. In fact, the only times I ever see it mentioned are on discussions about it- I never see it used, though there may still be somee specialised areas that use it.

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:up: Me too. I think some people use it as a badge: 'None of this American nonsense for me. I'm British and proud of it.' [Yawn ;-)]

b