official government statistics have officially adopted the short scale version but that is really at the root of the problem it puts reporting figures at odds with people's understanding of them maybe that will change in fifty years time when everyone has been educated on the short scale but you have to appreciate that someone over the age of will have been educated on the long scale in the oxford english dictionary which generally has the final say in these matters the primary definition is orig and still commonly in great britain a million millions u s trillion neither of you addressed my question even if i grant that some people in britain over the age of still sometimes equate billion with million x million in some situations this is still a minority and small one at that why are we catering to the few far more people recognize billion as thousand x million and for the record i'm british and in my mid forties i have never used billion except in the modern sense shouldn't we be using what is most common isn't that policy doesn't wp cater to the majority betty you yourself just said that official government statistics have officially adopted the short scale version so what's the debate ''''