Billions and billions

[ewx]

[Poll #253953]

Comments

[flick.livejournal.com]

I tend to assume that, in a newspaper, it means "a large number". If I see it anywhere where it matters, I hope that they define it.

And I ruthlessly remove it from any document that I edit or proof read, becuase it is ambiguous.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

It's practically invariably 10⁹ in newspapers.