[Ads-l] Antedating of "Billion"

[Mark Mandel]

This reminds me of a poem (a grook,* as he called them) by Piet Hein:

   Nature, it seems, is the popular name
   for milliards and milliards and milliards
   of particles playing their infinite game
   of billiards and billiards and billiards.

I bought several of his small paperbacks of grooks many years ago and know
many of them by heart.

Mark Mandel

* As I recall, a blend of *grin* "smile" and *suk* "sigh". (Pause to ask Dr
Google...) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grook says:

Some say that the name "gruk" is short for "*grin & suk*" (lit. 'laugh &
sigh'), but Piet Hein said he felt that the word had come out of thin air.

And as this brief quotation reminds me, I have never seen him referred to
by only his last name, but always as "Piet Hein" .

MAM


On Tue, Oct 11, 2022, 8:56 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com> wrote:

> The most recent citation for “milliard” in the OED is 1991. Wiktionary (
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/milliard#English <
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/milliard#English>) labels “milliard” as
> rare.
>
> Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>
> > On 9 Oct 2022, at 19:43, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> >
> > Fred Shapiro wrote:
> >> billion (OED, 2., 1834)
> >>
> >> 1814 Peter Barlow _A New Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary_
> s.v. _billion_
> >>
> >> The French mathematicians understanding billion to mean thousands of
> millions.
> >
> > Excellent citation Fred. Intriguing topic.
> >
> > In 1808 a writer in “The British Critic” discussed the ambiguity of
> > the term “billion” and recommended defining “billion” as a thousand
> > million. Apparently, his proposal was not adopted in the U.K. at that
> > time. In the U.K. a billion was a million million in the past. The
> > definition has been shifting during the past seventy years (I think).
> > For example, currently, a billion is a thousand million “in official
> > UK statistics”. (See further below)
> >
> > Date: July 1808
> > Periodical: The British Critic
> > Article: Florian-Jolly's Course of Sciences
> > Start Page 36, Quote Page 40
> > Database: Google Books Full View
> >
> >
> https://books.google.com/books?id=EHpPAQAAMAAJ&q=%22much+clearer%22#v=snippet&
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > Moreover, the division of numbers into parcels of three figures, each
> > classed under different names, will render the reading them much
> > clearer: it is easier to say four billions than four thousand
> > millions.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> >
> > Website: UK Parliament - House of Commons Library
> > Article: What is a billion? And other units
> > Date: Published Friday, 23 January, 2009
> >
> > https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04440/
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > What is a billion?
> > What constitutes a billion is a source of occasional confusion.  In
> > official UK statistics the term is now used to denote 1 thousand
> > million – 1,000,000,000.  Historically, however, in the UK the term
> > billion meant 1 million million – 1,000,000,000,000 – but in the
> > United States the term was used to refer to 1 thousand million. The US
> > value had, however, become increasingly used in Britain and the Prime
> > Minister, Harold Wilson confirmed in a written reply in 1974 that the
> > meaning of “billion” would be thousand-million, in conformity with
> > international usage.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>

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