Michael What are 1,000 million? In Germany, that's a "Milliarde." Americans, who are generally more inclined towards exaggeration, say "a billion." For example, a few years ago, Facebook paid 17 billion dollars for WhatsApp, and German newspapers wrote "17 Milliarden". So far, so good -- Billion is just the English word for the German "Milliarde" -- if it weren't for the German word "Billion."
If a "Milliarde" in German is called a "billion" in American English, then what is a German "Billion" in American English? A German "Billion," which is a million million, a number with 12 zeros, is called "a trillion" by Americans. However, and this is where it gets really crazy, this is a completely different number from the German "Trillion"!
A German trillion is not just 1,000 American "trillions," as the difference between "Billion" (German) and "billion" (American) might suggest, but rather 1,000 times more than that, which is a million of them! Today, we learn in the newsletter: 1,000 German billions make a billiard, and only 1,000 billiards make a German trillion. So, a German trillion contains a million American "trillions." And, to repeat, 1,000 American "billions" make a German billion. When Der Spiegel in illustration 2 asks whether Amazon, Apple, Google, or Facebook will be the first to reach the "billion-dollar wall," Americans might be puzzled, as these companies are already worth about "600 billions" in their terminology.
You might be wondering why I referred to the numbers as America-specific and didn't just point out a language difference between German and English: Our special friends on the other side of the English Channel, the quirky Brits, also claim a special exception in the numbers market. Their "billions" and "trillions" follow the German standards, not the American ones. A British "billion" is therefore a thousand times higher than an American "billion."
Back to everyday life: The "billionaires" so despised by toxic social critics like Bernie Sanders are merely measly "milliardaires." In the HBO comedy series "Silicon Valley," there is even talk of "rebillionizing": A venture capitalist plagued by setbacks has fallen from billionaire status to an ordinary millionaire in the show. His luxury BMW disgusts him because he would prefer to stylishly emerge from a Lamborghini with gull-wing doors. He is determined to climb back into the ranks of billionaires and is feverishly working on his plan to "rebillionize". Or "remilliardize?". You tell me.