Wednesday, March 16, 2005
MMM ... BBBB...
An audible frustration caused by inflation. It is impossible to lipread (or easily hear) the difference between Million and Billion. It is very helpful if people say 'Thousand Million' when they mean £1,000,000,000 and reserve the confusing mumble-illion for the times they mean £1,000,000 and this is especially helpful at budget times. Though nowadays it usually is the big-B that is talked about, of course.
According to the RNID over 9 million people in the UK have a serious hearing loss. That's 9 million people who might be grateful for clarity between bumble-illion and mumble-illion. I remember feeling quite warmly disposed to Arthur Scargill (not an automatic response on my part) when he consistently said 'thousand million' to mean just that. So much more comprehensible. Who knows if the LibDems say 'Thousand Million' as appropriate maybe it would be worth a few votes...
An audible frustration caused by inflation. It is impossible to lipread (or easily hear) the difference between Million and Billion. It is very helpful if people say 'Thousand Million' when they mean £1,000,000,000 and reserve the confusing mumble-illion for the times they mean £1,000,000 and this is especially helpful at budget times. Though nowadays it usually is the big-B that is talked about, of course.
According to the RNID over 9 million people in the UK have a serious hearing loss. That's 9 million people who might be grateful for clarity between bumble-illion and mumble-illion. I remember feeling quite warmly disposed to Arthur Scargill (not an automatic response on my part) when he consistently said 'thousand million' to mean just that. So much more comprehensible. Who knows if the LibDems say 'Thousand Million' as appropriate maybe it would be worth a few votes...
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