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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I recently read an article in the Journal the Montréal about a Québec/Canadian pharmaceutical chain (Jean Coutu) who was interested in buying a U.S. chain (Eckerds) for an amount written as 5G $.
I had absolutely NO idea what the G meant so I looked it up. I found out something quite interesting thing that I though you guys would be interested in. PLUS, I want to ask something to our overseas friends.
French and English use the same terms to describe several specific money amounts but some identical terms mean different amounts. Here is the list
French………………English……………….amount
Mille………………..thousand………………1,000
Million……………...million…………………1,000,000
Milliard…………….billion………………….1,000,000,000
Billion………………trillion…………………1,000,000,000,000
Trillion……………..quadrillion……………...1,000,000,000,000,000
Quatrillion………..quintillion…………….1,000,000,000,000,000,000
To our overseas friends…what terms do you use?
Oh, and the G, it stands for giga which stands for milliard/billion.
k = mille/thousand
M = million
G = milliard/billion
T = billion/trillion
P = trillion/quadrillion
E = quatrillion/quintillion
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And here I thought that a "G" referred to a thousand dollars, as in "Give me a couple of G's and I'll plug this guy's yap." That's how they used to talk in the movies.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Me too. That's why I knew I had to look it up. 5g (five grand) was definitely not enough for Eckerds.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Was that just the Eckerds in Canada, or the whole shootin' match? Heck, if they wanted to buy Walgreens, I'd sell it to them for 1G. Of course they'd have to find me to get their money back when they found out that SIMC does not stand for "Substitute Investment Management Chairman" 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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During the Depression, when Prohibition made gangsters rich, they used slang "grand" for a thousand dollar bill.
So "G" was short for "grand".
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Exactly. Tough guys like Edward Grand Robinson used it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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They're talking about Eckerds in the U.S. We don't have that chain here. Jean Coutu wants to expand their U.S. business after having tremendous success with the Brooks chain.
I don't think they have enough loot to buy up Walgreens - yet.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I know what you mean WWH and FS. We're just so used to the G standing for a grand/$1,000. but it is really meant to stand for a billion U.S.
My hubby - a chartered accounted - got me the list of accurate terms.
They are in capital letters. I'll skip the French versions to avoid confusion:
K = kilo = thousand dollars
M = mega = million
G = giga = billion
T = tera = trillion
P = peta = quadrillion
E = exa = quintillion
Even though G was the correct term to use in the article, I can't imagine why they would have used it since I, and everybody I asked, had no idea what they were saying.
Isn't the point of a newspaper to put across information. If they write in language that people don't understand, what is the use?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Bel, until certain people who shall remain nameless, but live to the South of you, got in on the act, English and French agreed.
thousand 10^3
million 10^6
thousand million 10^9
billion 10^12
trillion 10^15 etc.
However, now those-who-shall-not-be-named have confused matters so that nobody knows what billion means anymore.
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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Aye andt it is very confusing here in Canada since English Canada has adopted the U.S. variation and French Canada stayed with the first.
So here in bilingual Montréal, Québec, we have both variations being bandied about.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The advantage of using G for 10^9 is that it *isn't ambiguous {unless you consider the meaning G(rand)=1000 ambiguity}.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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But using G is only useful if people know what it means.
I'm thinking they should put the full meaning in parentheses until people recognise the term. Nobody I asked knew what it meant...well, only Hubby the Chartered accountant did.
If you're going to report on news, shouldn't you report in a way that the people understand your message?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It's pretty common in computer terminology. How big's your hard drive?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dunno. Is my hard drive in that beige box sitting beside my desk? oooo, or which hard drive are you talking about? woo-woo
All kidding aside though, if I ask any of the folks (exept I.T. guy, bien entendu) what a giga(byte) meant they'd have no clue apart from it is a big file that make it possible to make your computer go faster. And the link between that and money is non-existant.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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bel, I personally would never bandy a billion in any variation. And as for a big file that make it possible to make your computer go faster. And the link between that and money is non-existant. Have you checked out the prices in computer stores recently?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Oof, you're right there. I have to get a laptop for work (well, I'm on the third try in a month actually) and we're up to some 3,000$.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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we're up to some 3,000$.
Hey, another two thou and you'll can buy you an Eckerds..
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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...can buy you an EckerdsFaldage, did you take journalism classes...you shimmied us back to the starting point in a turn of a phrase - Just like they teach you. I give you an A 
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