> In North America, the word we use to describe a quantity equivalent to a thousand million is one "billion". In the U.K., I've been told -- i.e. so I've heard -- that a "billion" means something else. It could mean something general, more random and less exact, such as a million million. Similar to the way I might describe an impossibly huge number as "eleventy-thirty bajillion."
>
> So is it true that a billion does not mean 1,000,000,000 in Britain?
> I suppose this might be one reason to explain why there are no British billionaires.
>
> Wolf "WWTBAB?" spirit

Technically, yes and no.

In the English counting system:
1,000,000 is a million (US million)
1,000,000,000 is a milliard (US billion)
1,000,000,000,000 is a billion (US trillion)
1,000,000,000,000,000 is a billiard (US quadrillion)
And so on, so a British billion is 1000 times greater than a US billion.

However, for one reason or another, the US system is now used exclusivly and only pedants with nothing better to do with their lives are aware of such pointless trivia.

winter"possessor of pointless trivia"mute