this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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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.
Literally no English squeaking country uses the British long scale anymore. It was nonsensical and problematic. The US short scale has been adopted as the English standard in every country on earth for the purpose of English measurement.
So if a country even if their native language is not English. When using English for official reasons uses the short scale. It's only when using non English languages does the old long scale get used. Which is mostly a relic of British imperialism.
Even then a number of countries have started using us short scale even in their native language.
Us short scale is simpler and more understandable. It's the same reason countries use metric. It makes more sense.
The Brits use short scale nowadays like every English speaking country.
In Canada we see US billion sometimes. It gets confusing.
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.
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.
Ok, see I knew French and Latin used the 1000 of the previous magnitude word is the next magnitude word, I wasn't sure if that was standard or not. Seems that it is the Brits who changed things.
Possibly because Americans were so keen to call themselves billionaires they lowered the requirement.
Similar to how they pronounce "Aluminium" the same as "Platinum" to make it sound like a precious metal.
This isn't a criticism. If I'm being kind the real reason is that less separation between "million" and "billion" is functionally more useful, as well as aspirational.
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.
Funfact the British USE to say that word the way Americans do now. Then changed later. Americans way of say aluminum is actually the original and accurate way that the British invented.
Why y'all changed is beyond me. We are using it the way YOU wanted us to originally.
In part it was because it was named out of standard through a misunderstanding but then it wasn't corrected...
You spell it differently so that you can pronounce it differently, as I say, to make it sound like a rare and valuable metal.
It is pure marketing.
Aluminium used to be hard to obtain. It was a rare metal and then some smart bastard worked out how to extract it using electrolysis and it became as common as dirt.
Some people had invested heavily in it as a precious metal and overnight their investment was worthless, so hence the reluctance to rebrand.
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.
I didn't know that about King Louis (n) ... That's a great fact!